World Enough and Time
by noblecrescent
Summary: After five years spent as a prisoner, Klaus is rescued & dares to believe that he & Maleny are free to begin the rest of their forever together. But with the Hollow on the rise they're forced to remain in the Quarter to give one more battle. Family above all has been the Mikaelsons' most sacred promise throughout time & yet the very promise that will tear them apart by the Hollow.
1. After Years

**_Author's Note:_** _Hello and welcome to my third story involving my OC Maleny Rowan (pronounced as ' Mah-leh-nee') and Klaus Mikaelson. For any new readers I would recommend you go back to the previous two stories (titled The Girl in the Forest & Under the Same Stars) which are on my profile so that you can understand where Maleny came from and how she came to be. You don't have to, just a recommendation! This story will cover the entire season 3 of the Originals with my own modifications._

 _For visual references, I imagine Maleny to look like the actress **Angelique Boyer** in her blonde days._

 _Enjoy the story!_

* * *

A seven year old girl ran up towards a ranch-style house holding a small bouquet of colorful flowers. The sun was setting and she knew her aunt's rules very well: she had to be back in the house before dark. She didn't mind, though. When there wasn't light out she couldn't draw right, nor could she see the horses her aunt's friends had. Besides, in the night was when her mother would call, and right before she had to go bed, she was taken up the stairs to see her big sister.

"Amarrah?" Nicolas Mikaelson walked out from the kitchen. "Where's Hope-"

"Here I am!" the now older, a seven year old, Hope Mikaelson came running into the foyer after letting the door shut behind her.

Nicolas tilted his head at his younger sister. "It's dark out."

"Aunt Mal said I had until seven and it's only 6:58," Hope's lips stretched into a cheeky smile.

"Oh, okay, technicalities," Nicolas playfully rolled his eyes at her. "So then is that what you'd like to tell your mother when my mother finishes talking to her?"

"My mom's on the phone!?" Hope dashed up to the warlock excitedly. "Can I talk to her? I have to tell her about the bird I healed this morning."

Nicolas smiled. "Yeah, that's why I was looking for you, kiddo. She's pretty upset you weren't there to answer her.'

"I'm going to go apologize," Hope handed her bouquet to Nicolas. "Can you hold them for me?"

"More flowers?" Nicolas mused at the colorful ones.

"We have to change them every night," Hope said sternly, making Nicolas smile back.

"Of course. So go on then, Hayley's waiting."

Hope beamed and rushed to go talk to her mother over the phone. They did that every time she came to visit France without her mother. Every night, around seven, Hayley would call Hope and listen to everything the girl did that day. In return, Hayley would then explain what she'd done for that same day. Hope liked visiting France, but she disliked the fact her mother rarely accompanied. But she knew why, though, she knew that her mother and aunt Cami had to stay back and continue getting things to help bring back the family - her _Dad_. The only reason aunt Mal left for France occasionally was because of her own children - Hope's older siblings.

Hope loved Nicolas and wished he would come back with them more than he did. Nicolas would explain to her that while she looked after her aunt Mal he had to look after their sister. It was a fair deal, Hope thought, but she wished her family could be all together.

"Love you too, Mom," Hope hung up after about a good thirty minutes. Soon as she did, she handed the phone back to their family friend, Amarrah Collins, and rushed up the staircase calling for Nicolas again.

"All done, kiddo," Nicolas had set Hope's bouquet of flowers into a small ornate, clear, vase.

"Thank you," Hope beamed at the sight. She was sure her big sister would like them. "Is aunt Mal-"

"You know she's there," Nicolas' smile saddened, as did Hope's.

Aunt Mal was _always_ always with Hope's big sister in the night.

Hope crept up the staircase leading to the attic where her big sister was placed. She poked her head into the open room and saw a short blonde woman standing in front of a coffin.

Sensing her presence, Maleny Rowan glanced back at the young girl. Hope could see her red eyes from the door. "Did you speak with your mother?" Maleny inquired.

Hope nodded her head. "Mhm. She and aunt Cami were on a roadtrip."

Maleny smiled. "Right." She knew Hayley and Cami had set off to find the last wolf of the seventh werewolf pack needed to create the cure against Marcel Gerard's lethal bite. It was why Maleny had set out for France at the same time. The three women decided that it was better if Hope was far, far away from what they hoped would be their final battle.

Hayley and Cami were to retrieve the last of the venom and finally wake up Freya Mikaelson who would then create the cure to wake up her brothers Elijah and Kol followed by her niece, Marlenie. Rebekah's curse had even been siphoned by Amarrah's elders. All they needed was that last wolf before they were able to go back to New Orleans for Klaus.

Swallowing hard, Maleny looked back to her sleeping daughter, Marlenie.

"Aunt Mal, Mom said they were getting closer," Hope came further inside the room. "Is that true?"

Maleny nodded her head, well practiced at not shedding tears in front of the girl. "Oh yes. We're waking them up soon."

Hope walked over to the small table set beside the coffin and put down the fresh flower vase. "I brought Marlenie new flowers. I think she'll like them."

"I think she would," Maleny watched the girl come back.

Hope knew that her aunt Mal missed Marlenie more than anyone. Silently, she reached for Maleny's hand and then looked back to the dark-haired, young woman inside the open coffin. Marlenie Mikaelson had been bitten over five years ago and had remained 'asleep' under a spell placed by Amarrah and linked to Marlenie's closest friend, Evie.

Hope thought her a hero.

She learned from Nicolas that her sister had fought against a bad man who wanted to hurt her brother and instead ended up biting Marlenie. She thought the same of her father who apparently was the reason her aunts and uncles could remain asleep like Marlenie.

"Time for bed," Maleny announced, much to Hope's disappointment.

"Can't we stay a little longer?" she peered over the coffin to see her sister. "I have to tell Marlenie about my dress idea."

Maleny smiled at the girl but shook her head. "Sorry, I had strict orders from your mom to put you to bed at eight. And God help the person who disobeys her.'.

Hope relinquished her idea and looked down at Marlenie one last time. "See you tomorrow, Marlenie."

Maleny closed the coffin lid and walked out of the room with Hope in hand. Seeing Hope was still a bit upset she couldn't talk to Marlenie for a while more, Maleny offered another alternative. "You know, you could share with me your idea. Then tomorrow, we could tell her in the morning."

Hope beamed. "Okay!"

"Okay, then. Go get changed and then be be back in ten minutes," Maleny stopped in front of the guest room meant to serve as Hope's room when they visited.

While Hope got ready for sleep, Maleny met with Nicolas and Amarrah by the staircase. It was serious talk now.

"Hayley and Cami think they've found the last wolf we need to complete the seven packs Lucien originally used to create his venomous bite," Maleny explained the situation. "They're going to start tomorrow night."

"So we're very close, then?" Nicolas couldn't help the excitement that spread across his face.

"Could be," Maleny nodded, sharing more or less the same excitement. "Which means you and I have to be on standby for what comes next."

Amarrah began to worry at what that implied. "You're going to go to free him, aren't you?"

"What was I meant to do? Stay here and _not_ help?" Maleny's voice turned cold, and mighty offended.

"All I'm saying is that if anything goes wrong in that mission, Hope needs her brother and a...well...mo-"

Maleny pointed a warning finger at Amarrah. "I am her _aunt_ , and I will bring her to her parents if it's the last thing I do." With that, she walked away.

Nicolas exchanged a 'really' look to the remaining dark-haired woman. "I could have told you that was coming. Specially since it's going to be five years tomorrow."

Amarrah rolled her eyes, but accepted her fault. "Yeah, alright, fine. But because of what tomorrow is, Hayley and Cami are going to have to be _very_ careful."

There, Nicolas agreed with his own nod. Tomorrow marked the fifth year of their biggest loss and that meant everyone would be affected, both negatively and positively.

~ 0 ~

"And I thought maybe she might like this color," Hope shuffled on her bed to better show a drawn picture of a lavender dress. Maleny, who laid beside her on the bed, took the paper and smiled. "Or-" Hope grabbed another of her pictures that had more or less the same figure with a baby blue dress and showed it to Maleny, "-maybe this one?"

"Both of these are amazing," Maleny smiled at the two pictures.

Hope beamed at her response. "You like the colors I chose? I'm still looking for more...you know, in case you don't like them-"

"Any color you choose I will love," Maleny clarified.

Hope once again beamed and rested her back on her pillow (and the bed headboard), taking the two pictures back. "I want it to be a good one," she said, although Maleny suspected Hope was talking to herself now. "But do you think Marlenie will like my idea? You said she's really old so...she probably has a lot more ideas than mine. And she and Evie are designers so maybe she won't like my ideas-"

"Hope, you are doubting yourself again," Maleny sing-sang for her, making the girl sheepishly smiled. "Evie has helped you get your ideas better, and I know for a fact Marlenie will absolutely love the idea of wearing the same dress and colors."

"I hope she will," Hope said, lowering her papers to her lap. Her eyes flickered to Maleny's engagement ring sitting on her left hand. Hope knew her father had given that ring to Maleny before he had to go and although it wasn't her mother, she loved her aunt Mal. Her aunt Mal had lived just as long as her Dad and her aunts and uncles - and just a bit longer than Marlenie - and she knew a lot of stories because of Maleny.

Maleny followed Hope's eyes to her ring and sadly smiled. Hope's gaze raised to meet Maleny's, and the two smiled at each other.

"Do you miss him?" Hope's question was a faint whisper.

" _So_ much," Maleny answered without a second thought.

Hope felt bad because she couldn't say she _missed_ her Dad because she couldn't quite remember him. She knew she _wanted_ to see him again and to have him back, but she just couldn't remember him like everyone else. "Do you think he might want to see me even though I can't remember him?" came her question. "He's not going to get mad at me?"

Maleny knew what Hope was meant because Hope had confided with them how she felt. "Oh, I think he will _run_ to you the moment he sees you," she scooted closer to Hope, bring an arm around the girl's back.

"Can you tell me a story again?"

"Another one? I think you know all of them now."

"Please?"

"Well, which one do you want?"

"Um…how he used to draw?"

Maleny sighed but smiled nonetheless. "Okay, but then you're going to bed. Deal?"

"Deal," Hope promised, briefly shaking Maleny's hand. Quickly, she grabbed her favorite stuffed animal and held it close.

"Well, Klaus loved to draw and paint whenever he could. He did many crafts out of wood. But, back when we lived in our village there wasn't a lot of things we could use to draw so he mainly painted. He would use these flowers and make them into paint."

"What did he liked to paint most?" Hope leaned her head on Maleny's arm.

"Umm...whatever he saw," Maleny settled for, chuckling. "Sometimes, he would do the sky, or animals...and sometimes people."

"Like you?"

"Sometimes," Maleny smiled.

Hope then chuckled a teasing chuckle. "I think he drew you most."

"Whaaaaat…?" Maleny feigned denial but Hope looked up with her familiar blue eyes to continue teasing.

"My Mom says there was an old painting of you behind a wall where you used to live."

"Your Mom's a tattertale," Maleny pointed, making Hope giggle.

"But did he draw you a lot, then? And Nicolas? Or Marlenie?" Hope grew more curious as she asked.

"Well, I guess since the cat's out of the bag, then yes. There were various paintings that I loved," Maleny admitted. "And I think he had one of Marls and Nick, but I don't remember - it was unfinished." She looked down to meet Hope's expectant face. "But you know what?"

"What?"

"I think that when Klaus sees you, he's going to want to draw and paint you over and over."

Hope's lips stretched into a wide, excited smile. "Really? Me?"

"Oh, yeah," Maleny nodded. "Maleny who? It's going to be all about Hope."

"No…" Hope became more shy as she thought about the idea. "...do you think he'd want to draw Marlenie and I when we wear our same dresses at your wedding?"

"Absolutely," Maleny said, beginning to get up from the bed. "And I think, that for tonight, this is our ending."

Hope glumly agreed and helped Maleny gather her drawings scattered on her bed. "Tomorrow can we go out and try that flower trick for paint?" she eagerly asked.

The blonde's smile had faded but, for Hope, she made sure there was at least a tiny one still on her face. With Hope's drawings gathered into one pile in her hands, Maleny gave a small nod. "I'm sure Nicolas will love to take you."

"Okay!" Hope hadn't noticed the change in demeanor of Maleny. She helped Maleny lift the covers from the bed and got comfortable underneath.

"Goodnight, Hope. Your Mom say goodnight to you?"

"Mhm, three times."

Maleny chuckled. "That's Hayley. Well then, I expect you to be out in ten minutes."

"I will try my best," Hope promised. Maleny kissed the girl's hair and walked out of the room.

As Maleny walked for her own bedroom she sifted through Hope's drawings of the day, intending on putting them together in her makeshift booklet so that when Klaus returned he would see them all. She loved to see that Hope had picked up many of his attributes through her artwork. Hope, had so far, shown she had _not_ inherited Klaus' foul temper unlike her big sister Marlenie. In fact, out of the three, Hope was turning out to be the quietest and shyest. How was that for plot twist?

"You'll see how different she is soon enough," Maleny spoke in a hushed tone as she walked into her own bedroom. She closed the door and walked over to the vanity table. "Soon, soon, soon..." she lowered Hope's papers to the table and sighed as she looked at her left hand. She touched her engagement ring - the one she hadn't taken off in five years - and felt the familiar sting of tears in her eyes.

"It ends soon, I promise you," she whispered with eyes shut. A small sob escaped through her lips.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

So this was just a little prologue sort of chapter to give an idea of where our characters are! Next chapter is the big one where things go down! For any new readers giving this story a try, welcome! And for returning readers, glad to see you guys are back!

So I was going through Pinterest and I happened to find an old fave fanfic writer who created sort of like aesthetics but as pins under one board name for their characters and I thought it was pretty cool! I was wondering if any of you guys, if you happen to have Pinterest or you just peruse by, would be interested in seeing that for say Maleny? Like under my account there would be a board titled 'Maleny' and it would consist of pictures related to her?


	2. To the Quarter

A young dark-skinned woman, Keelin, made a dash after pulling a surprise elbow against Hayley Marshall's face. As Hayley crashed into the brick wall of the bar the two had come out of, Keelin made sure to run as fast as possible. No way was she letting some strange woman who stunk of vampire take her. But, as Keelin made a swift turn she felt an arm wrap wrap around her neck, restraining her from going any further.

"You know, Hayley bet that you would pull something like this but I went 'No, Hayley, she'll be a smart one and listen to what you have to say'. Guess I owe her ten bucks."

Keelin wrestled against the arm until she pulled loose and turned around to come face to face with Camille O'Connell. Behind her, Hayley appeared after recovering from the minor blow.

"Do not do that again," Hayley threatened Keelin who, in response, turned to face her.

Keelin looked between the two vampires, unsure of her odds to win but sure as hell willing to give it a go. "I'm not going without a fight," she warned.

"If we wanted a fight I would have pulled your heart out already," Cami pointed out calmly, her hands clasped together in front of her. "Don't you think?"

"We're not here to fight you," Hayley assured the wolf-woman. "We need you. You're the last of your pack. That makes you special for reasons that are too complicated to explain."

Keelin snorted. "I don't care about your problems."

"You're gonna want to," Cami promised, eliciting a hard look from the woman in return. "Others are already trying to find you because they know how important you are."

"Look, I have a life, a career, relationships. Someone tries to take that, they're gonna have to kill me," Keelin looked from one woman to the next, hoping they would get the message she was a big girl who could take care of herself.

Hayley's attention was diverted by the sounds of glass shattering from inside the bar. She could hear a strange man threatening the bar staff asking for Keelin. Hayley locked eyes with Cami - who had also heard - and the two nodded. Cami swiftly knocked Keelin against the wall and caught the woman's body before it fell to the floor.

The three then disappeared.

~ 0 ~

By the time Keelin was awake, she found herself restrained to a hard, wooden chair. She saw three coffins had been placed across her while Cami and Hayley attended to a table full of different sort of herbs and liquids.

"Relax. We're not your enemies," Hayley said after sensing Keelin had woken up. "If we left you where you were, you'd be dead already."

Keelin thought that was as close as an apology she would get for suddenly putting her into all this. "Let me guess, we're on the run from vampires? You have the same stink they do."

"She is," Hayley nodded to Cami who was walking towards a box on the table opposite of the first. "But I'm a special kind, you see. I'm a hybrid. Half-vampire, half-werewolf. And considering that we saved your ass, you should show us some respect."

Keelin raised an eyebrow. "And how do I know you weren't the ones that led them to me?"

"Does it matter? They know who you are and they want you dead. The only way to survive is to do exactly what we tell you."

"It's not like I have a choice," Keelin lightly tugged on the binding ropes around her wrist. She deeply frowned when she saw Cami coming back with some sort face mask with two large vials on either side of it. "Hey, look, I don't know what kind of pervy stuff you're into, but I am not that kind of girl."

"Relax," Cami said and handed the device to Hayley. "It's just a device to extract your venom. And, before you ask, yes it will hurt."

Keelin's heart thumped as the two women neared her with the contraption. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because we're trying to save our family," Hayley said, looking back at the coffins. "Keelin, the people in there are dying."

Cami walked back to the coffins and opened the one containing the eldest Mikaelson sibling, Freya, who was in a deep slumber. "The only thing keeping them alive is a sleep spell, and the only one that can cure them is her. She's a witch, and she left us instructions on how to wake her up early."

"But the only thing we're missing is your venom," Hayley added. "Once she gets on her feet, we can give her the ingredients we got. And, with any luck, no one has to die."

Keelin's eyes flickered to the slumbering blonde and then back to Hayley. "So if I give you what you want will you let me go?"

"You have my word." Hayley received a nod from Keelin to go on with the plan and so Hayley set the contraption around Keelin's face.

It took about an hour or so to pump out the necessary venom to use for the Mikaelsons. When done, Hayley and Cami got to work setting everything up for Freya's poison cure. Keelin grew very impatient as she was forced to sit there, still restrained, and watch the women work.

"You got my venom. When do I get to go?" she finally asked the two after thirty minutes of pure silence.

"Soon as we know it works," Cami sent her a small smile as Hayley pulled up a syringe.

"And when will that be?"

Hayley turned for Freya's coffin. "Believe me, you'll know when you see it."

"You have to wake up Sleeping Beauty, right? How do you do that?"

Hayley didn't answer as she opened up Freya's coffin again. She stabbed the syringe into Freya's chest and saw immediate reactions. Freya bolted upright with a deep gasp, eyes wide from the sudden rush of life.

One link severed, thought Cami.

"Did you get the ingredients!?" Freya looked at the two women urgently and when she got a nod from Hayley, she jumped out of her coffin. "Good, I need to begin."

Cami stepped aside as Freya rushed to the table, albeit a bit wobbly from the disuse of her legs.

"Do you have everything we need?" asked Hayley.

Freya set to work and created seven-pointed star on the floor, setting all of the seven vials of werewolf venom on each point with five dark objects at the five points of the star. In the center she had placed a mixture of the venom along with Klaus' blood. "Venom from the seven packs, along with Klaus' blood. Infused by my magic and magnified by the Dark Objects. It's going to take all of my strength and more than a little luck, but it should be enough to fashion a cure to save my brothers."

"I heard 'should'," Cami narrowed her eyes down at the blonde witch. "Freya-"

"Cami," Hayley shushed her with a finger and pointed her to the window. Focusing, they both heard the sounds of approaching cars.

"Company," Cami sighed. Of course things wouldn't be easy.

"Hayley, let me go, please?" Keelin started tugging on her ropes. "If it's vampires, they're gonna kill me."

Freya spared a look at the woman. "They must have been tracking her. Hayley, I need more time."

"They're not ruining it," Cami vowed and sped out of the building. Hayley told Freya to work fast before speeding out as well.

Freya prepared everything until it was just right. She knelt down outside the circle and began to chant. As she did, however, Keelin began to hear the door being forced open. She saw one vampire finally get in and of course start for her.

"Close your eyes, you blood-sucking punk-ass…" Keelin tugged on the ropes hoping to get free before the vampire reached her. However, Freya waved two of her fingers and forced the vampire to yelp and fall to the ground in terrible, unusual pain. Keelin gaped and looked back at Freya after the vampire had just died. "You just you waved your hand and his brain melted?"

Freya wouldn't mention the fact her magic was temporarily enhanced by the dark objects. "Well, that's what happens when people annoy me."

Keelin's wide eyes looked back at the vampire. Damn this family was interesting.

Outside, Hayley and Cami had managed to fight off plenty of the vampires but some of the wounded were beginning to rise again.

One man stood in front of Hayley, pretty sure of himself as he told her, "Ooh. Your bite is nasty. But you're outnumbered. Give up now and we'll end this quick."

Hayley glanced at Cami with a feinged pensive look. "Oooor...I have a better idea. Cami?"

"Oh, all yours," Cami mocked a bow and stepped backwards.

Hayley shifted into her wolf form and lunged at the vampire male, shredding him to pieces. Meanwhile, Cami continued to fight off the other vampires. Some had their hearts pulled out, others their heads cut off, and others were literally torn. As Cami turned back after defeating a last vampire - she thought anyways - she saw Hayley finishing up her half.

"Hayley?"

But Cami heard another swoosh and immediately got ready to fight again. There were a couple of vampires who'd only received minor injuries. However, before she or the wolf-formed Hayley moved, someone else began attacking the vampires. The unknown force came to an abrupt stop a couple feet from Cami.

Cami's breath caught in her throat as Elijah appeared before her. She laughed with tears in her eyes and rushed towards him. Elijah caught her in a tight hug that followed by a kiss on the hair. As Hayley returned to her human self, she was given Elijah's jacket to cover herself and also given a proper hug and a big 'thank you'. The three then endeavored to collect the corpses of the vampires to burn them. They wouldn't want evidence to show that the Miakelsons were being revived.

"So you're infection's gone, then?" Cami asked after they had thrown the last of the corpses into the fire they created. She took Elijah's arm to see for herself then looked up with a big smile.

"You saved us," Elijah said, taking her hand into his. "You, Hayley, and Maleny."

"It's been _so_ long…" Cami's words caught in her throat as the tears welled in her eyes. Seeing as she wouldn't be able to speak, she encased him in another hug, needing to feel he was truly with her again.

"It has," Elijah murmured against her hair.

Hayley walked out on her own after checking up on the other resucitated Mikaelsons, confusing Elijah for a moment.

"I guess Kol and Rebekah couldn't contain their hunger?"

Hayley shook her head. "Nope."

Cami turned back and saw Hayley's worried face. "What is it?"

"Freya...she says she only had enough venom to create the cures for Elijah and Kol," Hayley explained. "We need to keep Keelin for a bit more time of we want to wake Marlenie up."

"We left her alone so suddenly," Elijah recalled the sudden snap of life he and his siblings had felt. "She will wonder what's going on."

Hayley nodded. "We need to get Keelin back to the safe house and extract more venom."

"I'm going to call Mal," Cami said and hurried for the warehouse to retrieve her phone.

"Maleny, where is she?" Elijah inquired after Cami left them.

"France," Hayley answered and laughed as Elijah did nothing but stare in confusion. "Every month she visits France to see Marlenie and Nicolas. Hope is with her right now, actually."

At the mention of his niece's name, Elijah remembered it had been now five years since they last saw Hope. "Please tell me how is my niece?"

Hayley smiled. "She's amazing. She's healthy. Happy. She's the perfect little girl. And she made me promise that one day she'd get her family back. _All_ of them."

Elijah smiled and looked away. "A child after my own heart."

"Then there's just one person left," Hayley declared and Elijah's smile faded to become serious.

"Let's go get him."

"Maleny wanted to be here to help," Hayley said but Elijah shook his head.

"We can't that long - if she's in France she'll be at least a day later and that is too long. No," Elijah headed back for the warehouse, "I say we give her the surprise of freeing Niklaus ourselves. Hell of a wedding present if I say so."

~0~

"They're awake!?" Maleny could not believe her ears as she listened to Cami excitedly telling her how they had finally woken up everyone save for Marlenie. She was fairly worried when Cami's phone call woke her up far early in the morning - dawn. Without a moment's thought did Maleny declare she was returning as fast possible after hearing the story

After hanging up, Maleny rushed out of her room and crashed into Nicolas who was coming out of his own bedroom. He'd heard her sudden shouts and became worried.

"Mum! What's wrong!?"

"They have the cure!" Maleny hugged her son tightly, still unable to believe it. "Nicolas, they've woken up! Everyone! We can go home!"

Nicolas pulled away from his mother and stared wide-eyes. "A-are you sure?"

"Cami called, she told me that everything went fine. They're going to go free Klaus and I have to be there to help," Maleny stepped back and rubbed her forehead. "I have to be there when he...when he sees them."

Nicolas smiled as he began to see traces of his old mother coming back. In all these five years Maleny had never looked so happy. It reminded him of how she used to be before Marcel took the venom.

"Then we better start packing," he said delightfully. Maleny laughed and soon he did the same, but a small cry cut into their moment.

"Hope!" Maleny sped for the girl's bedroom in a second and saw Hope wide awake, clutching her stuffed bunny in her arms. "What's wrong?" Maleny rushed into the room.

"I had a bad dream," Hope whimpered as faint images of that dream resurfaced in her mind.

"Oh, sweetheart, it's okay," Maleny got on the bed and hugged Hope, setting a kiss on the girl's brown hair. "You're safe, okay? Your...family's here for you."

She met eyes with Nicolas who came into the room concerned for his younger sister. With a small smile, he understood Maleny wanted to surprise Hope with the news that her family was finally going to be reunited.

~0~

In the morning, bright and early, the reawakened Mikaelson siblings started on their plans to free their missing brother. To do that, however, they would need a vast replenishing of blood to build their strength after five years. They had found a bus transferring prisoners and of course decided they were the best to feed on. Who would miss prisoners?

Elijah finished off the prison guard and let the body fall to the road. Rebekah, in the meanwhile, wiped her bloody face and turned in the direction of a wild scream.

"Good lord, that one has some lungs on him," she remarked of the last living human of the bus whom Kol was chasing after, no doubt playing with his food. "He should've been an opera singer. Might've ended better for him, actually."

Freya walked out from the side of the tipped over bus, clearly disinterested in her siblings' mess. "Is this absolutely necessary?" Cami appeared as well, although not as displeased as Freya.

"That depends. Do you want us at our full strength, or do you plan on rescuing Nik on your own?" challenged Rebekah.

"Well, death rattles are distracting, and I'm trying to break a cloaking spell," Freya gestured in the direction of the screaming.

Elijah lost patience with his younger brother and called out to him. "Kol, would you please?!" Kol obeyed and finally ate, thus stopping the screaming. "Thank you," Elijah said and looked at Freya again. "You were saying?"

Freya rolled her eyes. "I can sense. Klaus is still in New Orleans. Most likely somewhere underground. I can't get a read on exactly where, unless I'm in the city itself."

Hayley arrived and put away her phone. "Yeah. That's gonna be a problem. I have contacts in New Orleans. As you can imagine, the place is crawling with vampires, all of whom hate all of us. Whatever we do, we need to do it fast."

Kol rejoined them after finishing with his meal.

"Well, I wasn't planning on a pub crawl. I don't want to stay any longer than we have to," Freya promised. "But we need to go."

Kol blinked at them all, apparently not completely informed of their plan. "Whoa. Wait... Wait, we're not doing this today?"

"Hasn't he suffered enough?" Cami shot him a sharp look. "It's been 5 years."

"Yes. And I've died. Twice," Kol shot back. "I'm not about to give Marcel a shot at a third. Now, I say, we draw that Muppet out of town. And when he's gone…"

"You wanna tell that beautiful plan to Mal?" Cami raised an eyebrow. "Because I guarantee you she'll come and kick your ass first."

Kol rolled his eyes. "It's called being _sensible_. Until Freya can make enough cure with her werewolf hostage, Marcel can basically chew through our bloody throats. Shall I remind you that even little Marlenie hasn't had her dose yet for the same reason? What happens if one of us gets infected again?"

Cami opened her mouth to snap back but Elijah cut them off. "Enough. We're all in danger. We free Niklaus today. Even if I have to burn that city to the ground."

~0~

After five years, Klaus thought that he would become more used to the pain that the old blade of Papa Tunde released when embedded in his chest. Lying on the hard ground, Klaus concluded he would never get used to it.

"You never could resist picking a fight."

Klaus opened his eyes and, although he knew it wasn't real, he felt a bit relieved to hear her voice again. "Maleny?"

The imaginated blonde Maleny stood in front of him, looking down at him with what he remembered to be her amused face.

"It amazes me you think, for a blip of a moment, that I could be real," Maleny playfully rolled her eyes. "You know very well you just imagine me to distract yourself from the agonizing pain you feel because of that blade Marcel stabbed you with." She bent down beside him with a knowing smile. "We both know, however, that the reason I'm truly here is because you hate to he alone. Pain is nothing till you pair it up with solitude, isn't it?"

"Don't," Klaus warned her, the nerve to be hit close by.

Maleny just smirked. "I know it. You told me, remember? A thousand years ago. And what did I say to you in return?" Klaus' answer was to look away. "That I would never leave you," she said for his sake.

Klaus looked at her again, but with a small smile across his lips. "I miss you, Mal." Maleny smiled back and allowed him to speak. "But I'm ashamed for you to see me like this."

"I've seen all sides of you," she reminded. "Since you were a little boy. But I suppose you're talking about the fact I've never seen you defeated. Technically, I'm not seeing you, I'm not even here." She straightened up and began to walk around. "But please, let's get to the real part why you're imagining me again." She stopped and turned to him, a widened smile already gracing her lips. "You felt it, didn't you? Your family...they've woken up. Chances are, Marlenie is too."

Of course Klaus had felt the long lasting link between him and his siblings disappear late at night last night. At first he thought the blade in his chest was just making him think things that weren't. But as the night past and it became morning, the same feeling was still there and he realized that somehow his siblings had woken up.

"Now should we get to the part where you know they're not going to leave you here but that you do, in fact, wish for them to leave you?"

"When did you become such a psychologist?" Klaus raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

She chuckled. "I'm in your head. I can be whatever you want me to be. But we both know the real Maleny would have smacked you already for thinking like that."

Klaus smiled at the idea of the real Maleny being there with him. She probably would have already told him off for thinking she or any of their family would leave him behind.

"If they come for me, they will be caught. Marcel will kill Elijah," he said in a hushed voice in case anyone else happened to be nearby.

Maleny lightly kicked one of his shoes. "Then we have quite the work to do, don't we? You're gonna have to find your own way out of here."

The mere task put Klaus in unusual panic.

~0~

Old time frenemy of the Mikaelson family, Josh, had to close down the old hot spot Rousseau's for said family to go in and begin their saving plans.

Kol strode down the place taking in all the memories. "See? Wasn't that easier than us having to try to kill everyone?"

Josh rolled his eyes and moved to the side. "Yeah. So, what now?"

Elijah eyed the freezer at the end of the place, knowing that would leave the tunnels to get to Klaus. "Would you be so kind as to move that freezer unit, so that we might be able to access the tunnels?"

Josh hesitated but Cami moved towards him. She still considered him a friend, despite what he would think of her. "Josh, please? Time is a bit valuable here."

Josh sighed and went to do the task.

"Are you absolutely certain we're looking in the right place?" Kol asked Freya.

Freya nodded, definitely looking sure. "We know this tunnel runs the length of the city. Marcel must've carved out a section to serve as his personal dungeon."

"Bit ingenious and sadistic," Hayley remarked. "Well done, Marcel."

"Save the compliments for when he comes to kill us," Kol snapped. He was still adamant that they should have waited to lure Marcel out of the city. "Your flattery might give him pause."

Josh returned after moving the freezer to the side. "Okay, you're all set here. So, uh, good luck, break a leg, and I'll just be on my way."

Kol sped up to block his way. "What, so you can rat us out to Marcel? Not bloody likely."

Cami pushed him to the side, warning him, "We are not killing him." Josh looked surprised to find Cami still held him as a friend. He would've thought after spending so much time with the family she would forget everyone else. At least that's what Marcel theorized.

Freya rolled her eyes at their senseless argument. "Oh, just snap his neck. We'll be done by the time he wakes."

"And if he wakes before that?" Elijah asked.

"Then we leave someone behind to look after him," Cami said before anyone else thought of something worse. "I will." She didn't quite trust them not to lose it and kill Josh for being a simple nuisance.

Elijah, on the other hand, didn't trust that Josh wouldn't try something. He would abuse Cami's affection and try to flee and alert Marcel of their presence. "Kol, you stay back as well."

Kol smiled widely. "Happy to stay and have a drink and eviscerate anyone who tries to follow you."

"Good, then let's go," Freya headed for the tunnels. "We're wasting time."

~0~

The imaginated Maleny had become inpatient as Klaus refused to go through with the idea to escape on his own. "Soo...we're just going to ignore me now and my good idea?"

"I can't," Klaus adamantly said.

"If you want to be free, just pull out that blade. I would have that it was a given," she gave him a 'duh' look. "Or are we planning on leaving your family behind? Among those being your children? Or how about Maleny?"

"I _can't_!" Klais exclaimed, shooting her a glare.

"Can't or won't?" Maleny challenged. "For five years, you had to stay put. In order to keep your family alive, you had to keep yourself alive. No matter what the pain or fear or solitude. But now that you can leave you choose to stay even though your family's waiting for you."

She moved back and took a seat beside him on the ground. "So tell me, what was the point in making all these promises to them? You promised you would see that Marlenie woke up from her sleep. You promised to be there for Nicolas. You promised little Hope that you would protect her. And Maleny?" she raised her left hand between them and slid off the engagement ring to hold between them. "What was the point of _this_?"

Klaus started long and hard at the imaginated ring. "I was an emotional fool…"

"Oh," Maleny pulled back the ring, "Now I think _I_ might smack you for that. Truth was you intended on coming back to her and the rest. But now you're afraid to see them. Wanna hear what I think?"

"Not really but I know you're gonna tell me either way," Klaus looked to the side though he was unable to keep from staring at that ring.

"I mean," Maleny leaned back on the rock behind them serving as a makeshift wall, "It's been 5 years and in all that time you think that maybe Maleny might be better off finding some other man. Maybe, even Hayley finds someone else and gives Hope a new father. Because really? Would Nicolas or Marlenie really miss you? They lasted this long without you, after all." Klaus watched as she flicked the engagement ring across them and then looked at him expectantly. "Who cares, right?"

"You think you can guilt me?" Klaus fought to not express a faltering. "Perhaps you are not the best representation of Maleny after all."

"Well, keep it up and I'll be the only version of her you'll have," Maleny retorted back.

"Okay, I have had enough of this nonsense!"

"Oh just admit it already," Maleny swayed her head to the sides. "You would rather remain here where you're just a myth of a great man who sacrificed himself to save his family. That way, you neither ruin the illusion Hope has of you and you release Maleny from your family."

"Stop-" Klaus began to lose patience with his own mind.

"But the reality is you know that your family is coming," Maleny began to shift and face him, "You know Maleny will never leave-"

"I said-"

"-because you know she'll cling to that ring till you are back-"

"-ENOUGH!"

"NO!" Maleny shouted right back. "You imagined me to tell you what you needed to hear so YOU. WILL. LISTEN!" She stood up and looked down at him. "So get up, Klaus! Get up and free yourself before your family comes! NOW!"

"I conjured you, so I can send you away!" Klaus proved to still have the louder voice, because of course, essentially, he was fighting his own self. "So go!"

Maleny disappeared.

* * *

 _Maleny crinkled her nose as a young man put down a dead game on the ground. "And you...caught that?"_

 _The young man chuckled at her and straightened up on his feet. "Yes, I had some help, but it was mainly me." There was an undeniable smirk across his face._

 _Maleny shyly looked down, passing a hand through her long hair. "You must have been proud of yourself, Isaac. I will go and call the others to help you. The others are waiting to begin the preparations for tonight's celebration."_

 _As Maleny turned to leave, Isaac reached for her arm. "Will you be there tonight?"_

" _Well, everyone is meant to attend," Maleny reminded and lifted Isaac's hand from her arm. "The Gods would rage upon us all."_

 _Rather uncomfortable, Maleny gave a small smile and started to walk away hastily. She went for Rebekah who was behind a table weaving a basket._

" _Where are your brothers?" Maleny asked Rebekah while actively searching for the Mikaelson brothers._

" _Oh, Elijah and Finn are helping my father skin whatever game they found, Kol is probably somewhere he ought not to be, and Niklaus just walked away now." Rebekah distractedly answered while she weaved the basket._

 _Maleny thanked her and hurried for the nearest brother she could find, which happened to be Klaus who was, as Rebekah had said, making a hasty walk-away._

" _Klaus? Would you stop please? I need your help," she had to sprint after him and move around him to block his way. "Have you gone deaf? I need your help-"_

" _You need my help? Funny, it seemed you were quite comfortable with Isaac," Klaus sourly said and made to leave again when Maleny quickly stepped to side so that he would bump into her and not get away._

" _Are you upset because I was conversing with Isaac?" an amused smile started tugging at her lips._

" _I have no time for this," Klaus turned around and started walking again._

 _Maleny laughed and hurried after him. "Is it possible perhaps you are a bit jealous?"_

" _Acting so impressed, so shy, so..._ _ **you**_ _," Klaus stopped and looked at her sharply._

" _Well, I can't help it. It's me!" Maleny stepped closer to him, briefly glancing around before she reached for his hand. "And I think you need a reminder that I already chose my love. Would you?"_

 _Klaus took one look around before pulling her towards the forest. Soon as they were in safe distance he kissed her. She wrapped an arm around his neck and bring him further down. When they pulled from each other, Maleny began to laugh._

" _Something funny, Mal?" Klaus asked her, refusing to let her go. Her laugh subsided as he nuzzled his nose on the side of her face._

" _Mhm," she hummed with her eyes closed. "It is actually very amusing seeing you upset because some other man decides to speak with me. As if I would ever trade you for one of them."_

" _One never knows. You could change your mind-"_

 _Maleny opened her eyes, newfound seriousness in them. "Would you trade me in for another woman? Say, Tatia?"_

" _Never," Klaus answered within the second she asked._

 _She smiled and cupped his face. "I would never leave you. We are for each other. Always and forever, hm?"_

" _Always and forever," Klaus agreed and leaned down to kiss her again._

* * *

Maleny promised him she wouldn't leave him, and so far she had kept it. He needed to do the same and come back to her - he promised her. Klaus attempted to follow through and pull the blade from his chest. But after about the fifth failed attempt he gave up in a frustrated growl.

"Damn it! Maleny!" he shouted. "Maleny!"

"Oh, so now you want me back," the imaginary woman appeared sitting comfortably beside him. "Story of your life, isn't it?"

"You're ruder," he remarked.

"I'm rude because you want me to be rude," she pointed out.

"I need your help," he wished he could say to the real Maleny instead.

"You know I can't pull out that blade," she shook her head at him. "But we also know you're still just finding excuses not to leave," she smirked. "Admit it. It's just us."

Amazing, even when Klaus knew she was a fake his mind conjured up for his own distraction, he still ended up doing what she asked.

"Fine," he muttered. "I will admit the truth. I think I could perhaps be better as a myth. Nicolas and Marlenie survived without me therefore they wouldn't necessarily have to miss me. And Hope could be better off without me. Maleny has long been bound to my family and she should have a true chance at happiness. Is that enough?" he spat the last question. "Or do you want more? Are you satisfied?"

"Now don't you think that your twins, being far away from their parents, would do anything in their power to see them again," Maleny began to list off her fingers. "Marlenie did spend a thousand years searching for you, Nicolas spent the better of half a year searching for you and his mother, Maleny tied herself to a curse just to match your lifespan. Oh yeah-" Maleny shot him a sarcastic glance, "-they'll give up alright. And do you think that Hope will never hear about you? She has her mother, she has Maleny, a brother, to talk about you with. Don't you think she anxiously waits for the day you come back? Would you like to condemn her to the same fate her older siblings had and have her grow up without a father?"

The question hit home. Klaus shook his head and looked away. Maleny reached out to touch his face, and while it wasn't real, Klaus could swear he felt a bit of her warmth.

"Come back," she whispered. "Come back to your family, your children...come back to _me_."

~0~

Outside of the very prison Klaus was sealed in was his siblings. They could see he was in pure agony on the hard ground, but the hybrid was lost in his mind. Freya raised her hands and felt the presence of an invisible boundary wall keeping them away from Klaus.

"This spell is strong," Freya got the readings. "It's been reinforced over time, which means it's going to take time to break."

Elijah could hear coming footsteps from above ground. "We don't have time."

"I could try brute force," Freya planned. "Overwhelm it. But I'll need someone to channel."

Hayley moved to her side with a hand held out. "I'll do it." She met eyes with Elijah. "You keep watch."

Elijah nodded and sped upwards while Freya got started on the spell.

Within his mind, Klaus struggled to pull the blade from his chest. His imagination of Maleny was right beside, urging him to complete the task. "Klaus, it's time. You have to pull that blade out," she told him once or twice.

As Freya continued the spell, Hayley kept hearing the fighting of Elijah and no doubt Marcel upstairs in the courtyard.

"Freya, I have to get up there," Hayley urgently said, nearly getting up when Freya gripped her hand to keep her down.

"No, not yet. I'm almost through," Freya closed her eyes again. "Apne en vrata. Apne en vrata. Apne en vrata. Apne en vrata!"

"Klaus, you have to pull out that blade. Your family will die if you don't," the imaginary Maleny continued to say to Klaus.

"I'm trying!" Klaus growled in return.

"Go, Hayley, go!" Freya released Hayley's hand when she felt powerful enough to bring down the remainder of the barrier.

Hayley sped upstairs to stop Elijah and Marcel from killing each other. She cut in between them at the balcony, each hand on them.

"Hayley, leave us," Elijah instructed her.

"He's right. This is between me and him," Marcel agreed.

"And if I stay, you'll kill me, too, make my daughter an orphan?" Hayley asked of him, more like challenged him. She lowered her hands and straightened, facing Marcel completely.

"It's not your fight," Elijah insisted from behind.

"Yes, it is. Hope needs her father, Marcel."

"Yeah?" Marcel scoffed. "I had Klaus as a father. It didn't turn out so well, did it? Your daughter's better off without him."

"Get Niklaus and go," Elijah told Hayley.

"Oh, he's not going anywhere, Elijah," Marcel promised. "And neither are you."

~0~

"Klaus, c'mon," Maleny insisted as the hybrid failed to pull the blade out.

"I can't!" Klaus was close to giving up.

Maleny stopped him for a moment, putting a hand on his knee. "Hey. You can do this. I know you can. Pull that blade and help your family. And tonight you'll see me, the _real_ me. Does that not sound appealing?"

Klaus wondered if these mind games were aiming to help motivate himself or wound him further. Of course he would love to see his Maleny again, his family, his _children_.

"Come back to me," Maleny whispered one more time before disappearing.

Well, who was he to deny Maleny anything?

~0~

"Stop! You win. Okay?" Hayley was having more trouble stopping Marcel and Elijah from fighting again. "We can't beat you. I'm begging you, let us go."

"Why? Why!? Because you think that would be justice for your family?" Marcel incredulously asked of her. "They were my family, too. And Elijah tore my heart out and threw me off a bridge! And his brother just stood by and watched!"

He didn't understand in what other way did he have to say it for someone to see the wrong in that. But of course Hayley saw it, Elijah saw it - the entire family saw it.

"There is only one justice left…" Marcel stepped forwards and had Hayley consequently backup. Before he could do anything, however, Klaus appeared from behind and stabbed Marcel with the very blade he pulled out from his chest two minutes ago.

Skipping welcome backs, Elijah and Hayley helped Klaus get back through from where they came from, however this time redirected towards the drainage pipe.

On the other side, Cami, Rebekah and Kol were waiting for their return.

Cami tried ignoring Kol's impatient rambles to leave Elijah yet another voicemail. "Elijah, uh, this is me not worrying that you were supposed to be here 20 minutes ago. Now would be a really good time to answer me. Please call me back."

"It's been too long. We should go!" Kol exclaimed.

"We're not leaving our family!" Rebekah argued.

"Marcel could be shredding our family to pieces as we speak!"

Cami turned around to the two Originals. "Kol, I don't know if you remember how the world works but drainage pipes don't exactly get cell phone service."

Kol rolled his eyes. "You've gotten snarkier."

Cami incredulously blinked. "Wow, so maybe you've forgotten about yourself too."

Rebekah amused herself by watching the two begin a new argument. It wasn't until they saw their missing family members emerge from the drainage pipe that they all stopped.

"Nik!" Rebekah rushed over to hug her brother after five years.

Freya gently peeled her off Klaus and motioned to get moving. "Hey, you can hug him later. We need to leave."

"Marcel's right behind us. Go. Go!" Hayley exclaimed but the moment they headed for the car they'd acquired for their getaway Marcel appeared.

"Actually, I'm right here. You shouldn't have come back none of you."

"That's what family does," Hayley meant as a warning that this would not end easily. "We fight for each other."

"Yeah, so I've heard," Marcel grew tired of hearing. "Though it didn't really work out for me, did it?"

"Oh, for God's sake, you were never a Mikaelson, get over it," Kol said in his snarkiest manner. "Don't you have a city to run? Vampires to boot out of town?"

Cami elbowed him to be quiet. "Marcel, please. You've won. You have the city, a whole flock of new vampires to rule over. We are defeated."

After so many years, Marcel still couldn't believe that she would fight for that family and much less be a _part_ of that family.

"Marcel, you've won," Klaus tried on his own. "New Orleans was our city once. Now it's yours. For good."

Marcel seemed rather amused. "Is the great Klaus Mikaelson accepting defeat? Or is this all just another distraction?"

"Neither. In fact, despite your appalling behavior, I'm offering you a chance at peace. Attempt to kill us all, and you will be making a mistake. Any who survived would no doubt return to seek revenge, bringing our enemies back to your city in our wake. And even if you did manage to eliminate us all, one day my children would come for you. And their children after that. On and on for all your days an endless cycle of violence you will bring upon yourself. Or... Or we leave and we never come back."

Marcel tilted his head to the side. "After all that time buried in a hole, you still got some nerve. You stand there with a straight face and try to sell this like it's your choice. But here's the truth. I could kill all of you right now. And tonight I would sleep like a baby. Hell, that's what you would do. You've destroyed more people, taken more lives, ended more families than anyone who's ever lived. All because you _can_. But here's the other truth. Despite being raised by you people I am nothing like any of you. In fact, I'm proud as hell I'm not a Mikaelson. I beat you all without turning into you. And now you can live the rest of your lives knowing that the only reason that you exist is because I am showing you mercy. Now go. And don't ever come back."

After that, Marcel left the road open for the Mikaelsons to finally leave the place.

~0~

Getting to the safehouse was a dreary ride but finally getting to see "home" was such a prize for everyone. The moment they got there, however, Freya made to check on their still-captive wolf, Keelin who was in the shed of the front garden.

It was dark out by the time they arrived, and soon as they were out they all listened in for the voices that were missing.

"They're not here," Hayley said as they walked in save for Freya.

Cami was checking her phone for updates. "I got a text from Mal. She says two more hours till they land." She smiled at Klaus. "In case you were wondering…"

"I was, actually," Klaus saw no point in hiding that. He didn't want. After five years, he thought he shouldn't have to for tonight.

After a very quick decision that they would wait for Maleny, Nicolas and Hope, no matter how late they arrived, the family began to make themselves comfortable. At Klaus' request, Hayley brought him to Maleny's bedroom upstairs. Hayley opened the door to reveal a neat, white room inside.

"I can bring you some clothes if you'd like," Hayley said as Klaus slowly walked into the room. "Mal hasn't changed. She likes clean people."

An amused smile spread across Klaus as he rolled his eyes. With the promise that she would be back with clean clothes, Hayley left him in the bedroom alone.

For the first couple of minutes, Klaus found nothing to do but just stare at the room. It was hard processing that this was where Maleny had slept in for the last five years. There was a unique scent that filled the room which he was a bit ashamed to say he'd forgotten about. He spotted a thrown blouse hanging from a vanity desk chair and walked towards it. He picked it up and took a long whiff of it, telling himself this was Maleny's scent. That was hers.

How could he have forgotten it?

He blamed the five years but that still didn't make it any better. Perhaps he had spent too much time dreaming up Maleny that he forgot she actually existed.

And boy did she exist.

When Klaus set the blouse back down he noticed several small pictures lining her vanity mirror. It was of Maleny, of course, and Nicolas...and _Hope_. Klaus couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his littlest daughter smiling like a grown up. She was no longer a baby for sure.

Even Nicolas had changed after five years. He was getting close to his thirties, thus giving him the appearance of an aging adult. The only one who stayed the same - at least physically - was Maleny. But Klaus knew that because of what had happened, she had to be different too.

He _needed_ to see her.

~ 0 ~

"Keelin is out," Freya had returned to the house hours later with unfortunate news. "She hasn't produced enough venom to wake Marlenie up."

"Well that's not a surprise," Hayley sighed. "We've had her strapped to that venom-extracter for over a day. She's TIRED tired. We need to let her rest."

Freya wasn't very pleased with that and it showed on her face.

"Let it be, Marlenie owed me one," Kol said rather boredly from his spot on the couch, earning himself very scolding looks from his siblings. "She did," he added after a moment, but his tone wasn't a harsh one either which indicated to Hayley and Cami that perhaps he and Marlenie weren't on such bad terms anymore.

"If you say one more thing about my daughter…" Klaus came down the stairs in clean clothing after a much needed shower.

"At this rate I know her better than you do," Kol pointed, smirking. "Five years I was stuck with her in the Chamber of Ausse. She's got a big mouth, you know."

Klaus opened his mouth to retort when they all heard the sounds of a car approaching the house. Everyone had frozen until the car came to a stop and they began to hear voices. Cami and Hayley exchanged smiles knowing what was coming next.

~ 0 ~

Nicolas had just parked right outside the house. "So which one of my sisters do we unload first?" he cracked up at his own joke.

Maleny smacked him on the arm and undid the seatbelt of her seat. "That's not funny and when Marlenie wakes up you'll have hell to pay for." Nicolas just laughed as the two got out of the car. "Or Hope. Whoever gets to you first."

"Yeah," Nicolas walked to the trunk of the car and began opening it up.

Maleny, meanwhile, stopped beside the passengers' seat and opened up the door to find a sleeping Hope inside. "Hope, sweetheart, can you hear me?" Although Hope was a bit awake she was choosing to fall fully asleep. She shifted on her seat and turned the other way. Maleny smiled and shook her head. "Alright then, you sleep. Aunt Mal will take you in after we get your sister out."

"Mum?" Nicolas grunted as he pulled on Marlenie's coffin. "Help...please?"

"Not laughing anymore, are we?" Maleny left the car door open and walked to the trunk of the car.

"I'm so writing on her face after this," Nicolas moved a bit to the side and together they pulled Marlenie's coffin out and set it on the ground.

"You're just itching for some sibling fighting, aren't you?" Maleny shook her head at him. They began to lift the coffin again and slowly moved around the car to bring it into the house.

"After five years...yeah, a bit," Nicolas admitted with a familiar smirk. Maleny chuckled and continued to direct him, backwards, to the house.

As the door of the house opened up, the two slowly brought the coffin alongside the car but as soon as Nicolas caught sight of who opened the door he dropped his side of the coffin.

Maleny hissed and yanked her hands back before the coffin hit the ground. "Nicolas!" she scolded and saw the coffin's cover slap open a bit.

Just as she went to close it properly, she felt that presence that...could not be. She told herself it wasn't real, it couldn't be. But her eyes met with Nicolas who was staring right past her, and seeing his face told her it wasn't a dream.

"Maleny?"

Maleny shivered at his voice. With teary eyes, she turned around to see Klaus on the porch.

"Mal…" Klaus stepped forwards but Maleny had already sped to where he was.

She stopped right in front of him, eyes wide as she took him all in. He had to do the same. He could begin to smell her scent again, hear her heart...he just needed to touch…

Maleny beat him to it and pulled him into a gripping hug. Instantly he felt her trembling and heard a soft sniffle escape her lips. She practically clung onto him for the first couple of seconds, but then she pulled away to look at him again. With a teary face, she smiled and kissed him. Klaus didn't think twice before kissing back. He held her tightly in his arms like she would slip away from him. He would have liked to kiss her for hours but he knew they were not alone and frankly...he really wanted to see his children too.

Klaus pulled away from Maleny, wearing a look that indicated this was merely a 'pause'...which Maleny blushed to. She missed that feeling, honestly. And Klaus missed being responsible for that feeling.

Nicolas had patiently waited for his parents to finish their moment, understanding them completely - for he had seen his mother miss his father for five years. When he saw it was his turn, he rushed over, meeting Klaus halfway to hug as well.

"Dad!" Nicolas laughed whole-heartedly. "You're back!"

Klaus was unused to all this greetings but he couldn't have been more thankful. Five years was enough to make one's self believe in the end that no one gave a damn. "And to stay," Klaus promised as he pulled away.

Nicolas couldn't help chuckle. That's all he wanted to do honestly, laugh and be happy because his family was almost together again.

Klaus' eyes wandered to the coffin on the floor and back to the car where he felt a different presence he was sure was Hope. Maleny walked over and took his hand, gripping it for a moment, and smiled. "Would you like to see your daughters?"

Klaus nodded fairly fast. Maleny pulled him to the car and opened the backseat door to reveal a young girl fast asleep inside. Hope couldn't imagine any of this was happening at the moment, but there stood Klaus gazing at her with such awe and instant affection.

"You would think that time differences would affect her, but…" Maleny smiled, "...she's one lazy sleeper. Do you want me to wake her for you?"

"No. Let's let her sleep," Klaus replied then glanced at the coffin near them. "Freya is working on a cure for Marlenie…"

"Freya is up?" Nicolas' eyes widened. "My aunt's awake?"

Klaus then moved for the coffin, nodding to answer Nicolas. Despite Marlenie still being under the sleep spell, Klaus needed to see her. As Nicolas hurried to the house to see the others, Klaus and Maleny once again lifted the top of the coffin. Marlenie laid inside, peacefully unconscious. Like Maleny once, Marlenie took on the appearance of a Sleeping Beauty cursed to sleep yet remaining in a graceful appearance.

Klaus smiled at her and could already imagine what she would do when she woke up later. Hearing Maleny gasping, he looked up and found she was seeing the rest of the family coming out of the house. She was delighted!

"Oh my God!" she didn't waste a moment and started to hug everyone. "Kol, Rebekah!"

"It's uncanny how you and Marls sound alike," Kol pretended to shiver but Maleny just laughed.

"Elijah, Freya," Maleny hugged them next. "Oh my God. I can't believe you're all back! I was supposed to help! I was supposed to be here and…" she glanced at Hayley and Cami who stood on the side of them.

"Surprise," went the two women with widened smiles.

"Great wedding present, no?" Cami cheerfully asked.

"We'll see," Maleny laughed to herself.

"Is that Marlenie?" Freya spotted the coffin Klaus and now Nicolas were bringing towards them.

"Yup, that's my sister alright," Nicolas grunted as they came up the small porch stairs. Elijah moved over to help seeing him struggle.

"Maleny, I promise you she will be up but we need to wait until out wolf produces more venom," Freya explained the situation. "I have everything I need, just give me a couple of hours."

Maleny could see the tiredness on Freya's face but the fierce determination to bring everyone back. "I trust you," Maleny assured. "And I think Marls would be understanding if you wanted to rest - something all of you-" she then looked at the rest, "-should be doing by now. It's almost dawn."

"We wanted to wait," Klaus said once they had settled Marlenie's coffin on the porch.

"No need to wait anymore now," Kol bluntly said and started for the house. "I'm taking whatever room I find," he then warned.

"Oh hell no," Cami fiercely went after him. "Not mine!"

"We'll have to accommodate," Hayley warned them all. "I can share with Hope," she volunteered and started for the car to retrieve her sleeping daughter.

"Uncle Kol can stay with me if he wants," Nicolas, too, offered right around the time Cami emerged from the house again. "Unless Cami…"

"He gets the couch," the blonde flatly said. "Or the attic so he can sleep like a bat."

"My brother will not be annoying you, that's for sure," Elijah promised her, instantly receiving a smile back.

"Well I think I know where Elijah's staying," coughed Rebekah who innocently started walking for the house. "Freya and I will take Hayley's room, I suppose."

Maleny looked at Klaus earnestly, like she still needed to be careful, "You can stay with me."

Amused, Klaus gave his thanks to her. Once they had brought in Marlenie's coffin into the house, deciding to leave it in the living room - because Freya was adamant in working through until she had enough to create another amount of the cure - the others retreated for a very well deserved rest.

"You know where my room is," Maleny mused with some bewilderment as Klaus led her down the second-floor hallway towards her bedroom. "Did you snoop!?"

"Something to hide, love?" Klaus stopped just outside her room. "Perhaps a new secret admirer out there?" And although it was meant as a joke, there was a good part of him that did wonder if Maleny had ever found someone else to pass by her time.

Maleny saw that as well and didn't even bother to get upset he was still clueless. "Are you kidding? Any man with intentions was driven away in the next minute by someone else."

Pleased, Klaus smirked. "I'll have to thank Nicolas for that."

But Maleny scoffed and corrected him. "No, _Hope_. That little girl may seem quiet but she does not play when it comes to her family. She scared them off," Maleny laughed.

"I love my little girl," Klaus said with heavy fascination of what Hope looked like scaring men away from Maleny.

"I love her too," Maleny earnestly agreed. She reached to touch Klaus' face, letting her fingers trace over his skin she had so often longed to feel for. "I love you, but you have to promise me you're not leaving again."

"I promise you," Klaus had no trouble saying. He leaned closer to her, with an air of playfulness. "But you have to do one thing for me first."

"What's that?"

Klaus raised his fingers to touch her lips. Maleny closed her eyes to truly feel the sensation. Instead of answering, Klaus decided to show her. He pulled her into a long kiss. When Maleny concluded this was going for the long run, she started searching with a hand for the doorknob to get them out of sight. Once Klaus had pressed her against said door, it was easy to find it.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hello! My vacation's come to an end and so I'm back with updates again! I hope you guys liked this new chapter!

 **For the Review:**

Sorry for the lateness but I'm back now!


	3. Family Bonds

Freya walked into the living room with a small bottle of new werewolf venom. Nicolas had prepared the room for the spell that would hopefully wake Marlenie up as it did with their family. Freya had set the new bottle of venom in the middle of the recreated star pendulum.

"Let's do it," Freya said without hesitation. Nicolas left the coffin open for Marlenie and hurried to go help Freya do the spell.

He couldn't wait to see his sister again.

~0~

When Maleny awoke, she found that she was being stared at by Klaus. He laid beside her, doing nothing but staring.

"Something wrong with my face?" Maleny decided to ask after a moment.

"Absolutely nothing," Klaus responded instantly, and honestly. "After five years, I just need to see you."

Maleny blushed when he stroked her the side of her face. "I think you saw plenty of me already, don't you think?"

"Just let me take it in, please," he requested. Maleny smiled sheepishly and scooted closer to him. She let his hand wander from her face to her hair as he wished. "It is a terrifying feeling in the beginning to have you after such a long time…because it feels like you're just a mirage and you'll disappear again."

"I can't imagine what you went through," Maleny whispered. She always knew that Marcel would never be able to bring himself to kill Klaus - for Rebekah's sake or for the simple familial bond he once had with Klaus - but it just left the question of how Marcel would treat Klaus then as a prisoner. "I'm no psychologist but Cami did warn me that your imprisonment, the torture, and forced isolation was going to be something difficult to get over."

"Well, I had moments of solace to sustain me. It's because of them I'm here now," Klaus reached for her hand lying between them. It was also the one that held her old engagement ring. Maleny followed his fingers as it brushed over it. "You deserve a new one," Klaus murmured.

"No," Maleny corrected. "It's become something far more than you could imagine. It's my connection to you, my memories. I love it. And, if you still want to marry me, I would really rather we did not exchange this ring for another engagement ring. Please?"

Klaus looked at her a long moment then began to smirk. He took her hand and kissed it. "As you wish, love." Maleny beamed and leaned over to kiss him on the lips. Klaus let it be for a couple of seconds but then retracted. "While I certainly wouldn't mind to keep this going longer, I have to find some _breakfast_."

Maleny gasped. "You haven't had a decent blood bag have you?"

Klaus shook his head and sat up on the bed. "Hayley brought some out but between Kol and Rebekah…"

Maleny chuckled and sat up as well, pulling the sheets to her chest. "Got it. The good big brother had to leave some for the younger siblings, hm?"

Klaus rolled his eyes at her tease. "I was thinking more of my daughter who would wake up craving blood like there was no tomorrow."

"Aw, good father," Maleny further teased. Klaus decided to leave before she teased any further. However, she grabbed onto his arm and kept him in place. "I've got a better, new idea." Her mischievous face drew on Klaus' attention. With one hand, she pushed all of her to one side then tilted her neck.

"Mal…" it was easy to see Klaus had been truly surprised by her forwardness. Blood sharing was something they had never tried before. It was something special, with a heavy meaning between the two participants. Though he would be lying if he said he had never thought about it before, it was just that he had thought Maleny wouldn't be so open to that idea. He didn't want to scare her off or anything like that.

Maleny didn't have to be a mind reader to know what was running through Klaus' head. "Well…?" she asked in a mildly taunting voice.

"Are you sure there was never anyone else to make you so...bolder?" Klaus needed to ask first and foremost.

Maleny laughed for a moment. "Believe me. Anyone within a mile radius was scared off by your Hope first."

Klaus laughed and made a mental note to ask Hope how that had gone in his absence. He brushed his fingers over her open neck and placed a soft kiss afterwards. He met eyes with Maleny for a brief second before biting down on her neck. Maleny instantly gasped at the new feelings she felt coursing through her body. She fell back on the bed with the hybrid over her. Her nails arched over his bare back - which only seemed to provoke Klaus even more and continue a never ending cycle - and let the euphoric sensations take her over completely.

~ 0 ~

The moment Hope was up and saw her mother had stayed with her caused the little girl to fit pieces together of the reasons. In her pajamas sans the usual slippers she liked to wear, she crept out of her room in search for answers. It didn't take much for her to hear her brother's voice - a very excited voice too - followed by a young woman's voice. Now Hope knew that Nicolas would never invite any stranger to their house, so it had to mean that it was someone their family trusted. Very quietly, as much as she could, she tiptoed up to Nicolas' bedroom. The door was a bit ajar which allowed her a view of her brother. However, there stood a tall, raven-haired woman in front of him. She was the source of the other excited voice Hope kept hearing.

"I can't believe you, Nicolas! Actually, no I can!" Marlenie Mikaelson laughed.

"Like you wouldn't have done it at some point," Nicolas laughed along side her for a moment. Hope made a face, wishing she knew what they were talking about.

Marlenie stopped laughing suddenly and glanced over her shoulder, causing Hope to lightly gasp. She'd been caught. "Is that…?" Marlenie began when Nicolas spotted Hope by his door.

"Yup," Nicolas walked past Marlenie for the door. "No need to be scared there."

Hope flinched when Nicolas pulled the door open completely. Her eyes were glued to Marlenie as the raven-haired woman turned around.

"Hello there," Marlenie greeted softly, unable to believe that this little girl was truly the toddler sister she left behind five years ago.

"Hope, you know her, don't you?" Nicolas had taken Hope's hand and walked her up to Marlenie. "You've seen her, right?"

Hope's eyes were practically stuck on Marlenie. Of course she knew who the woman was. She'd been bringing her flowers forever each time her aunt Mal took her to France. "...you're my big sister...Marlenie," Hope sheepishly spoke up.

Marlenie's lips stretched into a big smile. "Big sister…" she repeated with a swelling heart. She bent down to be on Hope's level. "I like the sound of that. My little sister Hope? Last time I remembered you were still in diapers."

Hope chuckled. "I don't use those anymore."

"I can see, you're all grown up now!" Marlenie studied the girl for a moment. "Can I hug you?" Hope looked up to Nicolas and, sharing a smile, she pulled her hand from his to hug Marlenie. "Oh my God I can't tell you how much I imagined all this," Marlenie hummed and hugged the girl tightly. "I know you don't know me, Hope, but I love you so much."

Hope could feel her sincerity and could truly say that she loved Marlenie back. Ever since she could remember Marlenie had been the sleeping woman in a coffin up in their friend's Amarrah's house. As she grew up, Maleny and Nicolas would tell her how Marlenie came to be in the situation.

"Are you better now?" Hope pulled away and looked at Marlenie from head to toe. "Aunt Mal said you were sick because of a bad man…"

Marlenie straightened up, serious for a moment. "Yes, well, our brother tells me that bad man is gone now so...no point in thinking about that anymore."

It was the best news to hear that Lucien Castle was dead. Marlenie thought this was a birthday present and a Christmas present combined! The only thing she wasn't thrilled of was that Marcel Gerard had taken the same serum and was left roaming the planet with her father as his prisoner.

"I'm much better now that aunt Freya has given me my medicine," Marlenie smiled once again. "So listen, I heard from Nicolas that you had something you wanted to show me?"

Hope's eyes widened in alarm and quickly looked back to Nicolas. The eldest sibling just smiled in amusement.

"I...I don't...they're not...that good…" Hope suddenly felt like her drawings and ideas weren't going to be good in comparison to the ones Marlenie probably had. She was a professional designer after all.

Marlenie put her hands on her hips. "I hear you got our father's drawings skills packed down. I would love to see what you have. Then we can show him together later."

Hope's delicate eyebrows knitted together in prime confusion. Nicolas realized that Hope was unaware of their family's arrival still.

"Um, Hope," Nicolas turned the girl to him. "Last night, when we came back, your mum and Cami gave us the surprise of our family. They're all here now...including our Dad."

"My Dad's here?" Hope couldn't believe that.

"Yes, and when we he wakes up, he's going to love to see you and Marls working together for the wedding."

"Where is he?" Hope looked between the two.

"He's...getting reacquainted...with my Mum…" Nicolas answered slowly, missing Marlenie shivering and shaking her head. "So why don't we get you to meet the others in the meantime, hm? You're going to love them."

"Okay," Hope took his hand then glanced back at Marlenie as she held out her other hand. Marlenie's beam was obvious from a mile away. She quickly took Hope's hand and allowed the girl to walk them back to the hallway.

~ 0 ~

Out in the front porch of the house were Elijah and Cami, the latter helping the former catch up with the latest of the world in his absence. Elijah was reading from a newspaper while listening to Cami, who sat on his chair's armrest holding a glass of bourbon, retell some of the stories of the past.

"It was all ridiculous," the blonde was in the middle of saying. "2017 had the worst president elected."

"I've seen plenty in my time," Elijah mused as he turned over the page of his newspaper.

"Mm," Cami took a drink from her glass then lowered it down. "I swear to you this was something else. And then what else?" she tilted her head and thought of something else he should know of that he missed. "Several natural disasters here and there...the usual unnecessary inventions, laws…" but she laughed when she realized she was being overly vague. "Wow, I suck at this. You're better reading off from the newspaper."

She moved to get up but Elijah grabbed her hand. "I'd rather you stay and continue gracing me with your voice," he said honestly.

"I think I said a lot. You sure I'm not annoying you?" Cami laughed.

"You could never," Elijah kissed her hand. As he went back to his newspaper, the front door opened and Kol walked out.

"What's the holdup?" he demanded rather annoyed. Behind him came Rebekah who seemed equally agitated with him. "All right, we rescued Nik, we escaped mortal danger why are we not on a private jet to Saint-Tropez?" Kol stopped by Elijah's chair and snatched the newspaper from his hands, ignoring Elijah's face as he did. "You can catch up on the last five years when we're on our way- I can assure you haven't missed much."

"Kol has a point," Freya emerged after a moment. "We need to put an ocean between us and Marcel Gerard as soon as possible."

"I think we should take a day to really think about things," Cami rose from her spot and set down her glass on the small table beside the chair.

"Think about what, exactly?" Kol asked. "Marlenie is up now, which means we are more than free to get out of here."

"I wasn't talking exactly about her, Kol," Cami crossed her arms. "Hope has lived here since she can remember. We need to think about the best way to move her without uprooting her entire life."

"Oh, spare me the psychological explanations," Kol rolled his eyes. "Any extra minute we stay here is a danger for Hope, actually. It's a danger for all of us."

"Any delay _is_ a risk," Freya pointed out to them all that Kol was right in that aspect. Marcel could go back on his word at any moment and come after them all.

"We are not going anywhere," Marlenie walked out of the house. "At least for a day I think we deserve a moment of familial bond." She nodded back to the doorway as Nicolas and Hayley walked out with Hope.

Hope immediately became the center of attention. She felt her face warm at so many pairs of eyes on her. "Hello…" she greeted shyly.

"Isn't she adorable?" Marlenie said giddly.

Hope smiled nervously and looked up at her mother. "Mom, can Marlenie and I work in the garden?"

"Yeah, of course," Hayley knew that Hope was excited to finally set out all those creative ideas for Marlenie. "But no wandering out on your own."

"We won't," Marlenie promised as she took Hope's hand. On their way down the steps, she stuck a childish tongue out at Kol.

~ 0 ~

"Do you want to go outside?" Maleny watched Klaus pacing in their (now of course) bedroom. He was trying to play it off by stopping here and now to 'look' at some of the things on tables. "And, I don't know, meet your daughter?"

Klaus didn't say anything right away but Maleny could tell by his constant fidgeting that he was...nervous. And she understood him. Hope was now a young girl who, in her perspective, had grown up without a father so far. All she had were stories to go by on who was her father. Maleny recalled the quiet, nervous confession Hope had made to her that she felt bad because she couldn't miss a father that she never remembered. It was a sad moment for Maleny, and for Hope of course, because it was something that Hope never should have had to go through. She truly was paying the sins of a parent, of her entire family.

Maleny got up from the bed and walked over, cutting through Klaus' pace. "We can go together if you'd like. I can hear Marlenie's voice out there...she's up too…"

It was then that Klaus saw the yearn in Maleny's eyes to see their daughter again. He didn't want to deny her that just because of his emotions. "Together?" he asked just to be sure.

"Together," Maleny took his hands. "Like always."

Klaus nodded, his fingers instinctively gripping her hands. He gave a second nod when he felt prepared enough to leave the room.

~ 0 ~

"You thought purple was a good idea?" Marlenie picked up a drawing of Hope's that was meant to resemble a bridesmaid dress.

Hope's face was warm as the sun while she waited to hear Marlenie's veredict on one of her ideas for the wedding. "Well, aunt Mal says purple is her favorite color…" she tried to explain but her words failed her.

Marlenie smiled at the girl, thinking it adorable she was this nervous for something so simple. "Mum does like purple...I like the color too, so let's make it purple, then?"

Nodding her head, Hope now excitedly reached for another couple of papers set on her side. "My Mom says that I have to wear a long dress because a wedding is fancy, but…" she crinkled her nose, "...I don't like long dresses. Do you think aunt Mal would mind if I didn't wear a long dress? I still want to be the flower girl."

"I don't think she would mind," Marlenie smiled. "In fact, we can-" but she stopped abruptly, and a small gasp escaped through her lips.

"Marlenie-"

But Marlenie got up from her chair and turned to the house. Her entire face lit up when she saw her parents walking towards them. "MUM! DAD!" she sped up to them and nearly threw them back with her strong hug.

There came similar reactions in both Maleny and Klaus as they held their daughter after five years. Marlenie gave both of them kisses on the cheeks and drew back only to get a good look at their faces, but her arms were still keeping them together.

"The antidote worked," Maleny was in a mixture of laughter and tears. "Look at you, up and...well, up!"

Marlenie chuckled. Klaus swore he saw Maleny for a second. Despite looking nothing alike, Marlenie could at times, be just like her mother. He reached out to touch Marlenie's face. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, Dad, of course," Marlenie laughed. "I've never felt better!"

Maleny smiled and happened to look past Marlenie where a very sheepish Hope was watching them like a hawk by her table. She nudged Klaus and nodded ahead.

"Oh!" Marlenie gasped when she too remembered she hadn't been alone. She whirled around. "Hope, come here!"

"It's okay, Hope," Maleny softly said, motioning for the girl to come forwards.

Hope obeyed and silently walked up to them. Her eyes, in the whole meanwhile, had never left Klaus'. She definitely saw that he looked like a lot like Nicolas. That was something that her aunt Mal always said to be a fact.

"Come here, sweetheart," Maleny stood behind the girl and turned her to Klaus. "Well, I don't really think we need introductions, do we?"

Klaus smiled and bent down in front of Hope. She was so small and...soft...and...his daughter. He couldn't believe it. "Hello," he said.

"Hi…" came Hope's gentle voice. "A-are you...going to stay now? Mum and aunt Mal said they...they had to find you...and-and…" but she found she really couldn't find the words she wanted to say.

Klaus' smile widened even more as he pushed some of her light, brunette hair over her shoulder. "I don't plan on going anywhere."

Marlenie cleared her throat and stepped beside her mother. "Hope paints a lot, you know, Dad. Maybe you could give her some points."

Hope's face flushed. "I-I'm not good, but-"

"Nonsense," Klaus straightened on his feet. "You're my daughter. You are definitely good."

"And there's the ego I actually missed," Maleny rolled her eyes and missed Klaus' smirk.

"C'mon, Mum," Marlenie linked arms with her mother. "I think we should go do something in the house."

"Don't get into trouble, you two," Maleny wagged a finger. "And that means you, Klaus."

Hope giggled and so Klaus let the comment slide.

~ 0 ~

As soon as Marlenie and Maleny entered the house, Marlenie went straight for the smell of alcohol. She found Kol in the kitchen pouring himself some bourbon over the counter.

"Uncle Kol, surely we're not planning on getting drunk already?" she picked Kol's glass and drank it herself.

Kol rolled his eyes and simply took out another glass for himself. "Yeah, I came in here to have a quiet bite alone, thank you very much. So you can, you know…" he made a 'shooing' gesture with his free hand.

Marlenie leaned against the counter and took a small sip of her glass. "There is literally no one making noises in this house. What's the actual problem?"

"After five years of being trapped in a house together, here we are- trapped in a house together," he took a swig of his glass.

"Well, at least this one doesn't have imaginary blood."

"It's not normal," Kol shook his head. "Living in each other's pockets for a thousand years. Paranoia, betrayal, violence, repeat."

"Who you talking to with 'a thousand years'," Marlenie playfully huffed. "I've only known you for five years."

"Five years too many if you asked me," Kol mumbled underneath his breath. Had it been during their first days of meeting there would have been an actual argument between the two, but over the years forced together Marlenie and Kol had developed a civilized, playful uncle-niece relationship.

Marlenie tilted her head, smiling lightly. "It's really your fault thinking that you could be 'normal' in this family. The word doesn't exist in our vocabulary."

"You know, when we were in that chamber, it felt like the world had stopped. But it didn't. It kept turning. Without Davina-"

Marlenie leaned away from the counter, sighing as she turned away from Kol. In no time, Marlenie had learned what happened after she was put under her sleep spell. In it, she learned that apart from killing Lucien and Marcel becoming a higher version of a vampire, Davina had been killed...at the hands of her aunt Freya and Elijah. While she disliked Davina - and by that she actually _hated_ Davina - she did acknowledge that Davina did not deserve to be sacrificed in the way she was.

"You know, she would have been twenty three today," Kol continued, not even seeing Marlenie's uncomfortableness with the topic. It was more for himself, to acknowledge that Davina was not there anymore. "And I wonder what she would have done with the time. She would have made the world a better place. Meanwhile... we're here, breathing. And what are we doing?"

"Brooding over someone who's dead," Marlenie promptly responded with and reached for the bourbon bottle to pour herself another drink.

~ 0 ~

"Aunt Freya…?" Nicolas had come into the safehouse to find that the werewolf, Keelin, was still tied up and in terrible condition. Freya was by a table, seemingly preparing something. "What is she still doing here?" Nicolas came further inside. "We don't need Keelin anymore. No offence."

Keelin rolled her eyes. "Thanks." Because, really, the fact she was being tied up against her will and being sucked for her venom wasn't the offensive part.

"We needed more venom to make more of the cure."

"But she's _hurt_ ," Nicolas took in Keelin's wounds that weren't exactly being healed.

"I'm making something for it," Freya said as a means to make things sound better.

"Okay, but why isn't she healing?" Nicolas bent down in front of Keelin just as Freya came over. "Aunt Freya, was this you?"

"I wouldn't be making this-" Freya bent down beside him with a pasty content inside a cauldron, "-if it was me."

"So then, are you going to tell us?" Nicolas asked from Keelin, rather expectantly.

"I dated an orthopedic surgeon. One morning, I'm trying to impress her on a hike and I take a spill. Broke my ankle, double compound fracture. And she was all about helping me rehab until the next day, she saw that I was good as new," Keelin tilted her head, looking none too pleased remembering that memory. "She freaked. Being a medical anomaly can suck."

"So you had a witch do a spell to slow your healing process?" Nicolas assumed.

"No. I swiped a badge, accessed the path lab. Used my tissue sample to analyze the chemotaxis of my body's enzymes…" Keelin trailed off when she saw the incredulous faces both Mikaelsons had. "Look, even a monster is still a biological organism. Exposed to the right chemicals, it can be weakened or strengthened, so I devised a treatment to help suppress my werewolf traits. It wasn't magic, it was medicine."

"Im...pressive," Nicolas blinked and glanced at Freya, however it appeared something else was passing through Freya's thoughts at the moment.

~ 0 ~

"Hayley?" Maleny found the brunette hybrid in Hope's bedroom, blankly staring out the closed window. "Let me guess, all these Mikaelsons are getting to you, hm?" Hayley shared the briefest of smiles with her. "They're a loud bunch - all of them."

"Don't speak like you're not one of them," Hayley glanced at her as the blonde came to stand beside her.

"I remain a Rowan until I see otherwise," Maleny said calmly. "So, are we still looking out at the safe house? I doubt Freya has let Keelin go yet."

Hayley released a sigh. "I should be happy right now that the whole family is back together, but...it's a bit hard when there's one of my kind in a barn, miserable and scared, and she doesn't deserve to be there."

Maleny hummed in agreement. "Keelin helped us a lot, and I will always be grateful to her despite practically kidnapping her and forcing her to. Just go and release her, Hayley."

"What?" Hayley snapped her head at the blonde, startled by the calm instruction.

"You have done so much for us that the least we can do is let you free that woman. In fact, you should have done it the moment Keelin produced more venom for Marlenie. I'm sorry Hayley."

Hayley blinked, rather shocked, and stared out the window again. "What about the others?"

"Who gives a damn. Do this for yourself." Maleny put a hand on Hayley's arm, encouraging Hayley to follow through with her desire.

"If Marcel finds you…"

"It doesn't matter. Your life is more than the salvation of this family. Go," Maleny nodded to the doors and, with a grateful smile, Hayley walked away.

~ 0 ~

Klaus and Hope were taking a small walk around the woods surrounding the safe house. During it, Hope asked questions about Klaus' past and he honestly did his best to answer them as truthful as possible without revealing some of the gruesome parts. He was thankful when she switched to art topics instead. Those were easier to answer.

"Aunt Mal said that you used to make paint from flowers and berries," Hope remarked but then smiled. "But she said sometimes you would use her berries and she would get mad."

Klaus winced as he recalled several of those moments. "Yes, always make sure the berries don't belong to her."

"Could you teach me?" Hope asked.

"Of course I can. I'm surprised no one's taught you so far."

Hope shrugged. "I wanted to but aunt Mal said only you knew how to do it best. But I've been learning a lot of things too," she added in that last part in fear that Klaus would think she hadn't learned anything in his absence.

"What have you learned?" Klaus wanted to hear more about her and seized the opportunity when it came up.

"Um, aunt Cami taught me how to read and write - she's in charge of school topics."

"Camille as a teacher?" Klaus mused at the idea, close to laughing but he kept it inside to let Hope continue.

"Mom teaches me how to cook and how to camp outside," Hope went on. "Nicolas only teaches me a little bit about magic. He mostly teaches me about the history. Aunt Mal teaches me…" she paused and let only her eyes drift to her father, "...about you."

"Really?" Klaus was just unable to withhold his smirk. Maleny, getting the chance to talk about _him_ all day? That seemed like a great way to spend the day.

Hope bit her lip, suddenly a bit nervous. "Are you and aunt Mal going to get married now?"

The smirk on Klaus' face faded a little as he looked down to meet his daughter's inquisitive gaze. He bent down in front of Hope and set his hands on her arms. "Can I ask you something first? And you can be completely honest with me. It'll be our secret." Hope nodded her head and paid good attention. "How well do you like Maleny in reality?"

Hope raised her eyebrows, and soon began to think. "Um, well...she's...my aunt Mal. Mom's told me all about her and I like her. She's always so nice to me and funny - she's so funny. But she doesn't understand some of the things about this period. Mom says it's because she kept skipping years from a...a…"

"Curse," Klaus finished for her. "So then you know all about Maleny, then?"

Hope nodded. "Mhm."

"So...you would be okay if...I married someone that wasn't...your mother?"

Hope smiled lightly. "Mom likes aunt Mal, and aunt Mal likes her too. They say they're like sisters - with aunt Cami. But I also understand that aunt Mal isn't _really_ my aunt. She's a friend."

"She's been in my family ever since I could remember," Klaus agreed.

"Yeah but Nicolas said that you liked aunt Mal since you were little-" Hope garnered a teasing expression that truly resembled something of Klaus', "-like me!"

"Oh, you're _very_ informed," Klaus pretended to be offended, making the girl laugh. "But I'll have you know that I did not like Maleny since I was this small," he bopped Hope on the head. He then leaned closer and whispered, "Don't tell your aunt Mal I said that."

Hope chuckle again. "I won't. So, will you get married, then? I think aunt Mal is getting tired of waiting."

"Why? Has she said something about that?" there was a hint of panic in Klaus' tone.

"No, but I think she shouldn't have to wait anymore since we're all together now."

"You might be right about that…" Klaus thought for a second then smirked. "Would you like to help me with something for her?"

Hope beamed and nodded. "What is it!?"

"A surprise. C'mon," Klaus straightened up and took her hand, "We'll have to find your sister. She'd go mad if we planned something without her."

~ 0 ~

Keelin wondered if being suddenly freed was just another strange tactic this family had to play with their prisoners. Still, she silently watched as Hayley broke the chains from her wrists.

"You're free to go," Hayley stepped aside and Keelin quickly grabbed the chance to get out. However, Hayley yanked her back for a moment. "A few parting words. As long as you're alive, you will be hunted. You can't go back to your old life. You need to disappear." She let go of Keelin but paused to hear some footsteps nearing. "Someone's coming. Go now."

Keelin made a run for it, and about two minutes later Freya and Nicolas walked in. Immediately Freya started to go crazy looking for Keelin.

"Where is she?" she turned to Hayley, accusing her of course.

"The chains are broken," Nicolas picked up a piece of the chains keeping Keelin back.

Hayley didn't attempt to hide her fault. She looked straight at Freya. "I had to."

Freya blinked, confusing settling across her face. She released a small breath of annoyance. "Had to what - sentence my family to death? Yeah, I'm going after her."

Before she could take a step, Hayley sped her against the shed walls.

"Hayley!" Nicolas exclaimed.

"Move!" Freya hissed but Hayley didn't budge. Having no choice, Freya used her telekinetic powers to push Hayley off her.

"Aunt Freya!" Nicolas wearily called, looking between the two women.

"I can do much worse. Stay out of my way," Freya warned Hayley but just when the hybrid went to make another move, Nicolas used his own powers to plaster the women on opposite walls.

"Enough! We're not going to argue about this like animals," he warned but still didn't remove his powers off them.

"We have enough venom to make the cure. We don't need an endless supply," Hayley made her reasonable argument. "Let's just hit the road, avoid Marcel…"

"Marcel could be handling out vials of his venom to anyone. We can't avoid a threat that could be everywhere!" Freya argued back, also mildly reasonable.

"Keelin shouldn't suffer for that."

"Oh, now, suddenly you're the arbiter of right or wrong?"

Nicolas saw this going no better than before.

"I've done plenty wrong in my life, Freya. But things are different now," Hayley said, much calmer than before. "I have a sweet little girl who's going around healing injured fireflies with her magic. If we're keeping someone captive in our barn, she's gonna have questions."

This, however, made no difference for Freya. "Then tell her that the world's a bad place and that sometimes we have to do bad things to survive. She'll be safer if she learns that early."

Hayley's eyebrows knitted together, appalled. "It's not _her_ job to keep herself safe. It's _mine_. It's _ours_. And that includes protecting her innocence." Hayley glanced at Nicolas, knowing she was about to hit home with him. "That's something so far neither of her siblings have had." Nicolas's face softened but he kept the powers to hold both of them to the wall. "Nicolas was _aged_ to fit into a sleeping curse by his crazy aunt. He lost his entire childhood! How old was Marlenie when she went on the run from those sacrificial witches?"

"...seven…" Nicolas answered quietly.

"Seven years old!" Hayley repeated and glared at Freya again. "Marlenie was Hope's age when she went on the run, looking for ways to survive on her own! Neither of them had anyone to protect them and I am not going to let Hope go through the same thing!"

Nicolas suddenly let Hayley off the wall, but kept Freya to her place. "You're right, Hayley. Hope should have what Marls and I never did. It starts with this."

"Thank you," Hayley truthfully said and spared one last look at Freya before walking out.

"Nicolas, let me go!"Freya ordered as soon as Hayley was gone.

"Not until you say you'll leave Keelin alone," Nicolas walked towards Freya. "Hayley is right. Marls and I didn't have a childhood and Hope shouldn't go through that. Please, aunt Freya, just leave Keelin be."

Freya stopped struggling to look at him. After a couple of minutes, she gave a curt nod. "Fine."

~0~

"What the hell are we doing?" Maleny was letting Marlenie drag her down the staircase (along with Hope) just to avoid disagreements.

"Language, mother!" Marlenie pointed to a giggling Hope.

"Oh, please, she's probably heard Nicolas say some mighty colorful words already."

"Nicolas isn't good at puzzles," Hope remarked. "I beat him every time!"

"As you should," Marlenie said proudly. "But Mum, seriously, you just have to come out."

"We should really be putting Hope to bed, that's what we should be doing," Maleny threw the girl a sharp look.

"Mom said it was fine," Hope reassured and as soon as they made it to the last step Hayley walked in from the kitchen. Nicolas was waiting by the door. "Mom, you said it was fine, right?"

Hayley had a far too innocent face for Maleny to let it slide. "What's going on?" the blonde demanded from everyone in the room.

"We were just discussing the fact that Elijah and Cami finally went out on a goddamn date that wasn't going to involve interruptions," Hayley gave a casual shrug of her shoulders.

"You're all so lying to me," Maleny suspiciously looked from one to the next.

"Mum, don't ruin it," Marlenie put a hand on her mother's arm, pleading her to stay calm. "Nick?"

Nicolas opened the door and gestured to Maleny to walk out.

"If this is some sort of prank, I'm going to go raging-mother on you," Maleny warned and began to walk out.

Outside was nothing out of the ordinary...at least that was her thought until she saw the lighted section directly across. Someone had added in a wooden platform where decorative lights hung from one corner to the next.

"What in the world…?" Maleny hurried down the steps and went for the platform.

On a small table was a painting of herself. Immediately she smiled, assuming who the painter was. She walked up to it and admired it as usual. It was her in her village days. Her long, blonde hair cascaded down over the scarlet red dress she remembered she used to love so much. Over her head was, of course, a flower crown. Her figure sat on a rock just beside the lake she used to visit often, whether it was for chores or just simple pleasure. Everything around her was just so green and bright. And she was laughing.

"That was the moment when I had told you I wanted seven kids," Klaus' voice from behind startled her. She turned sideways, chuckling when she began to remember that moment. Klaus smiled and moved closer to her. "Your face turned so red and you just...could not stop laughing."

"I was sixteen and you said you wanted seven kids - do you really not know why I couldn't stop laughing?" Maleny pursed her lips together and glanced at the painting again.

"It was one of my favorite memories of us," Klaus reached her side and took one of her hands.

"When did you paint this?" Maleny asked even though she knew it had to have been today. "And what was the need? I thought you would be painting Hope from now on."

"You will always be the main star of my paintings," Klaus raised her hand he held and gave it a light kiss on its back.

"I am flattered," Maleny chuckled again and leaned on him. "Now what's all this for?" she made a motion to the platform.

"Mal…" Klaus gave a squeeze to her hand as he lowered it between them, "You've waited so long for something that I...should have given you a long time ago. And it's not that I didn't want to, it's that...I wasn't sure I could. I'm not deserving of you, I never have been and you know that."

"Yeah, you kept repeating it from the moment I met you," Maleny lightly smiled. "Even though I kept telling you that you were wrong. We're different but we always come back to each other despite everything."

"And you have no idea what that means to me. You've always stood by my side and I never want anyone else that isn't you…" the moment Klaus got down on one knee, Maleny realized her engagement ring was gone. _Marlenie!_ she exclaimed inside. She must have taken it while she was showering. Klaus seemed to know what she was thinking because he held up her engagement ring with a sly smile. "Maleny, would you marry me?"

Maleny swayed her head sarcastically before going, "I've only waited a thousand years so _yes_! Give me my ring!"

Klaus laughed as he slid her ring back on her finger. "You could have had another one-"

"Nope!" Maleny had her arms around his neck as soon as he straightened up. "It's mine!"

He could live with that, Klaus thought. He raised her head a bit and kissed her. They had about a minute before the others emerged from the house with cheers.

"We have _so_ many things we have to plan!" Marlenie was already talking about the details because she was, oh yes, self proclaiming herself the ultimate wedding planner.

"I'm so happy for you two," Nicolas was far less loud like his sister. He gave each of his parents a hug but was yanked back at the last moment by Marlenie who wanted to give hugs as well.

Hayley came by with a bottle of champagne and glasses for them. Hope, however, had a glass of water. "Since we're the only ones in the house right now, you guys get a small toast this time."

"Where's Freya?" Klaus casually asked since she was the only one unaccounted for. Elijah and Cami were on a date after all and Rebekah and Kol had already left.

"Who cares!" Marlenie exclaimed. "Let's just enjoy and cheer!"

"I can do that," Maleny leaned on Klaus. "Also, a note, there are no divorces allowed."

"I wouldn't think there were," Klaus just went along with her.

"Just making that clear…"

"A toast?" Nicolas raised his glass.

"Does it count if its water?" Hope glumly stared at her glass of water.

"Yes, and that's what you're getting," Hayley warned before the girl anymore ideas.

"I can't have my flower girl all tipsy," Maleny joked, but it really made Hope's night.

"I _am_ going to be the flower girl!?"

"Of course! We had already decided, remember?"

Hope practically radiated from happiness. Now she was into the toast even with her glass of water.

"To the future Mr. and Mrs.," Hayley said, gesturing her glass to the engaged couple. "This should be fairly interesting," she added with a big smile.

Everyone laughed and took a drink from their glasses.

~0~

When all was said and done, the house grew quiet. Elijah and Cami returned and congratulated Maleny and Klaus. Even Freya, who mysteriously returned from wherever she had gone to, was happy to see at least something was going well again.

"You do realize Marlenie will keep bugging us for details and most importantly a _date_ ," Maleny warned Klaus while she got ready for sleep.

"That isn't the worst thing in the world," Klaus came from behind and slid his arms around her waist. He rested his chin over her shoulder. "Would it bother you?"

A smile wormed across Maleny's lips. "No. It's exciting, actually. I'm getting married!"

Klaus laughed and kissed her neck. "Yes, you are."

Maleny turned around and slung her arms over his shoulders. "I love you. And I'm going to show you everyday how much that's true. I swear."

Klaus stroked the side of her face. "I love you too. And I'm going to show you the world and everything you deserve."

"I am holding you to that," Maleny waggled a finger at him.

She leaned forwards and kissed him. Klaus moved his hand to the back of her head, keeping her very close to him. He was about to move them towards the bed when someone pounded on their door.

"Mum! Dad! It's Hope!" Marlenie exclaimed from the other side. "Th-there's something wrong with her! Come!"

There was no need to say more because both Maleny and Klaus were out of the room and behind Marlenie. Hope was in her room surrounded by the entire family but with Nicolas and Freya the closest.

"What's wrong with her?" Klaus pushed his way through to get closer to his daughter.

Hayley was shaking her head, confused and terrified at the same time. "She said she was having a dream…"

"About a bad man," Hope finished quietly from the bed. "He was hurting these kids and I think he hurt me, too. Now I feel dizzy and my head hurts. And I'm cold."

"She's never been sick before," Maleny remarked.

Freya desisted from her quiet spell mumbling. "This is a magical affliction. It feels I don't know, it's hard to explain. Almost cold."

A light gasp slipped from Hayley, and when everyone turned to her they saw she was inexplicably holding a crumpled up note in her hand. She opened it up and quickly read through it. "It's from Vincent Griffith. He knows what's wrong with Hope, he can cure her. But we have to go back to New Orleans."

Even though it sounded like the craziest, most dangerous plan ever...there was no question: they would do it. For Hope.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hello everyone, it's been a while hasn't it? But hey, at least now Mal & Klaus are officially engaged! That's happening, like it just has to right? ;)

I just wanted to say that this story might take longer to write up than I expected. The transcripts aren't really out there aymore for some reason and those that are have only the dialogue which makes it harder to remember what's going on in that episode. That being said, I'm gonna probably have rewatch each episode as I'm writing so that'll probably take some more time to finish. I'm so sorry! I don't usually post stories without drafting and for some reason this one just got away from me. I intend on finishing this though because season 5 is coming and I want to have Maleny's story all wrapped up so that I can then publish a second story involving the Originals :)

And as for the reviews, since they all practically said the same thing: I've finally updated! I'm so sorry!


	4. The Blue Light

The once tall and proud Mikaelson compound was now shabby looking, dusty and crawling with overbearing vines. As Maleny, Klaus, Cami, Elijah and Hayley (who was holding Hope) walked into the courtyard, they felt a nostalgic for their old home.

"Our home. Once the pride of our family, now a flophouse," Klaus said sourly, preferring not to look at what the upstairs looked like.

"Indeed, the mighty have fallen," Elijah passed a hand down a grimy wall.

While Hayley was also a bit sad, she wanted to get things moving for Hope. "Where's Vincent?"

"Right here," Vincent emerged from behind. "Kept my word. Now the only question is whether or not you guys are gonna keep yours. As soon as I'm finished healing your kid, you got to leave the city."

"To be fair, none of us are really interested in staying, so..." Maleny retorted. "Heal Hope and we'll be on our way."

Vincent barely acknowledged her and walked Hayley further inside the courtyard. Hayley gently laid Hope on the ground and took back half an inch of a step to allow Vincent to start.

Cami looked up at the squawking crows above them, narrowing her eyes as their sounds only got louder. It appeared even the creatures were upset to see them. It hurt to think that the city she was born in - and died in - was no longer her city. She suddenly wondered what had become of her apartment in the five years she'd been gone.

Vincent had finished his spell on Hope in under five minutes and, thankfully, Hope woke up. "That's it. Your little girl's purified," Vincent straightened up, raised his hands, and turned to the rest.

"Thank you," Klaus said even though it was a conflict. He could hear Hope's little heart beating as it should and he could tell just from her eyes she was up and ready to discover the world.

Vincent couldn't care less. "Now look, the only gratitude I need from any of you is seeing you leave the city."

Hayley let go of Hope when she was sure Hope was well. "Go see your Daddy."

Hope was eager and went towards Klaus. Midway the crows squawking above caught her attention. One suddenly dropped in front of her shoes and when she gazed up more crows began to fall from the sky. Eventually they created a perfect circle around her….

Klaus furiously glared at Vincent assuming this was something against them for returning. A trap, as Elijah mentioned was a possibility before they left the safe house. "What is this?"

Vincent was just as lost as them. "I don't know."

Hope wasn't bothered but merely curious and awed. "Mom? Can you hear that? It's whispers. Saying a name. Over and over. 'Kre Nah Han, Kre Nah Han'."

Hayley panicked. "Vincent, what what is that?"

Vincent was just stunned. His insides churned because of course he recognized the dialect. "It's a nearly forgotten dialect. It's Creole. It means 'the Hollow'. The Hollow is coming."

~0~

"Aunt Freya, she was supposed to go last night," Nicolas raged in a whisper tone inside the safe house's shed. His blue eyes kept flickering from Freya working fervently at a table to Keelin who was asleep on the ground. "I would say I can't believe you went back for her but I can't. I'm actually ashamed I didn't see it coming."

Freya threw her nephew a sharp look but never stopped working. "We made a deal, alright? She helps me kill Marcel and I let her live."

"Oh, well, as long as the deal is _fair_ ," Nicolas waved his hands sarcastically. Freya smiled unbeknownst to him. "And shall I really go into detail about how we shouldn't be trying to kill the man my Dad still considers a son?"

"Dad just called and wants all of us on our way to New Orleans," Marlenie walked into the shed and stopped at the sight of Keelin. "We stocking up on wolfie venom in case things go south?"

"Marls!" Nicolas hissed. "Go get the car and start packing aunt Freya's and my things that we need-"

"For your witch stuff, got it," Marlenie waved a hand and walked out of the shed.

Nicolas went over to Keelin to make sure the woman was bound to anything. He had only discovered her that morning and he was still fighting for her freedom. "Morning, I'm so sorry about this. My aunt was supposed to let you go with no problems."

Keelin lightly smiled at the man. "Your aunt's a good hunter but that's about the only compliment she's gonna get from me."

Freya leaned a hand on the table and turned to them, sarcastically replying, "And somehow I'll live."

"Look, we have to go back to New Orleans so you are definitely free to go," Nicolas helped Keelin up.

"No, she's not. We had a deal," Freya warned Keelin.

"Yeah, and I live up to my word so while you're there get some of Marcel's venom, then."

Freya considered the notion to some degree and appeared to have a better idea. "Since Klaus said that Marcel would be occupied we can enter his home, steal whatever we need and leave before anyone notices."

"You are mad," Nicolas shook his head. "Marcel's place is probably crawling with vampire guards."

"We are Mikaelson witches, let them do their best," Freya reached for something on the table. "And since I'm sure Keelin must be worried about a fight allow me to even the odds." Nicolas immediately recognized a moonlight ring in his aunt's hand and internally sighed. "The stone is kyanite. It's been spelled to grant you total control of your werewolf nature, even during a full moon."

Keelin was momentarily struck with surprise as she took the ring and slid down her finger. "This is a cure. It's everything I've ever wanted. What's the catch?"

A smirk spread across Freya's lips. "Not a catch. Insurance."

Nicolas rubbed at his forehead, very much looking like his uncle Elijah for a minute. "Try taking the ring off," he said to Keelin. The woman followed and pulled on the ring but she couldn't get it off anymore. Nicolas dropped his hand and tilted his head at Freya. "You are unbelievably predictable."

Freya's smile bordered a laugh.

~0~

"Okay, well, Marls, Nicolas and Freya are on their way," Maleny came to the others in the old upstairs living room. "How's Hope?"

"Uh, the fever's back. But she's not in any pain," Hayley said, more as a console for her. "She's asking for you, Klaus."

"Well, make an excuse. I'd rather my daughter not know I've gone off to murder witches," and Klaus started his way out when Maleny blocked his way.

"You cannot be serious. Did we not learn our lesson 5 years ago?"

"And how would you have me respond?"

Maleny pretended to think about the options for about a second before she responded, and sharply, "Perhaps without provoking the very group that started whatever this Hollow thing is? If witches are starting something it's because it's obvious vampires have pissed them off again. Instead of fueling them, let's try to find some nonviolent means to stop them."

"That's exactly right," Elijah stepped forwards. "Let Cami and I see what we can do."

"And I will handle Marcel," Hayley raised a hand. "I'm Hope's mother and Marcel will probably respect that."

"Not to mention you're probably one of the few of us that wouldn't get killed on arrival," Maleny pointed.

"Also true," nodded Hayley.

"And what are we supposed to do, exactly?" Klaus motioned between himself and Maleny.

"You're supposed to protect your daughter, genius," Maleny playfully rolled her eyes. "I am going to go to the cemetery."

"What for?" Klaus demanded suspiciously.

"To pay my respects to the girl we wronged," Maleny answered seriously. The truth about Davina Claire still made everyone uncomfortable.

~0~

Vincent had far too many things to do as it was and now he was apparently playing host to Elijah Mikaelson in the very place where no supernatural creatures save witches were allowed to be in.

"Look, I got a lot on my plate, Elijah, without whatever trouble you're trying to bring my way," he tried shooing the vampire out of the building but he knew that a mere motion wasn't likely to do the job.

"You need me," Elijah did not falter, as usual. "And fortunately, I have a long history of removing anything undesirable from New Orleans."

Vincent tilted his head. "I'm probably one of the things that's on your list. So I reckon it's best for me work alone."

"Hey," Cami strode into the place, trying her best to avoid feeling nostalgia for the place that was once her family's, "we are seriously not going to do this when there a children's lives at stake here."

"Are you serious?" Vincent pointed at her, making the woman blink for a moment. "You want to act like you care now? What about Davina Claire, Elijah?"

Camille faltered but before Elijah intervened on her behalf, she retorted, "You think I don't regret not helping her? I do. That was my mistake and I own it. And even with these words it doesn't mean anything because the fact is, Davina is _dead_. Keep throwing it in my face - I deserve it as do the rest of us - but while you do that, more children will die. Take your pick."

Vincent gave her a long stare. Even as time passed he couldn't stop seeing her as the once human psychologist or even the once runner of the Quarter. He had tried to put Cami as just another Mikaelson - as he did with Maleny - but he just couldn't. Perhaps it was in the name of their friendship once upon a time.

"We're doing this my way," he warned her and Elijah.

Cami nodded her head fast. "Your way, definitely."

~ 0 ~

If there was one thing Klaus could say he was unaccomsted to it was...being a babysitter. And he knew Maleny would have one or two things to say about that since she firmly believed it was what he did most with her when she was still a witch. The difference now was that, unlike Maleny who could put up a fight, Hope was a mere child.

Hope laid in what used to be Marlenie's old bedroom and was just opening her eyes from a small nap. When Klaus saw her waking up, he moved over to the side of the bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"I'm still so cold," Hope replied in a frail voice. "Are the birds gone?"

"Yeah, they're gone, sweetheart," Klaus quickly assured. "And when you're better, which will be soon, you and I are going to share the biggest plate of beignets you've ever seen. Just don't tell Nicolas he eats all of them…"

Hope smiled a little. "He eats a _lot_."

Klaus was glad to see her at least still smiling. It meant she wasn't completely ill yet. "And afterwards, we can discuss where in this big, wide world you'd like me to take you next."

"Mom said you loved New Orleans most of all," Hope remarked. "It was where you met aunt Mal again."

"Well, yes, but...putting your love in a place is a mistake. Being here in our home, seeing these walls…" Klaus briefly glanced at the cracked, mossed walls surrounding them, "I am reminded that it is people who are best suited to fill our hearts."

"How poetic," Marlenie surprised them when she came in. Her cheery, confident smile contrasted greatly with the atmosphere in the room. "You gonna use that for your vows?"

"Where's your brother and aunt?" Klaus looked behind her but saw neither the witch nor the warlock. He didn't sense them in the building either.

"Nice to see you too, first of all, and second of all they're sort of doing a job…" Marlenie left it at that for his sake and went over to Hope's side. She knelt down by the bed and reached for one of Hope's hands which felt a tad cold. "Hey sis...I know you're feeling bad, but...it's gonna get better, okay? We're getting you your medicine as we speak…" she slowly glanced back at Klaus to confirm this was the plan.

Klaus gave a firm nod in return.

~ 0 ~

"I hate this place," Nicolas flatly said when they entered Marcel's penthouse which used to be, once upon a time, Lucien Castle's home.

"We're not here looking to move in," Freya snapped as she walked on past him.

"We shouldn't be here at all, actually…" Nicolas went after her to remind her of his stance in this entire plot.

Freya merely rolled her eyes and looked around the spacious living room. "And yet you're still here...without telling your sister of the plan."

"Because if I did Marlenie would gladly help you," Nicolas crossed his arms. "She'd jump at the first chance to kill Marcel."

"Maybe we need to think like her, then," Freya watched as Keelin slowly came in. Keelin wasn't quite used to the burglary act and it showed. "Coming in slower won't make things better, by the way."

"Just tell me where to start looking," Keelin said, wanting to get things going fast.

"Marcel stockpiled Klaus' blood. No doubt he did the same with his venom," Freya got thinking of where Marcel would keep such venom in the place. "You know, that ring enhances your instincts. Why not try using them?"

Keelin scowled. "Sorry, I don't do bloodhound."

"And I don't do burlgary," Nicolas took a comfortable seat on the couch and purposely smiled at his aunt. "I'm just gonna let this play out the way it will."

"Fine," Freya spat at both of them. "We'll do it my way, then."

~ 0 ~

Maleny felt strange coming into the cemetery where she knew she was the least welcomed guest. It only helped somewhat knowing the ancestors couldn't really do much with her anymore since the connection between them and the mortal world had been severed. She stopped in front of Davina Claire's spot and sadly smiled. She tucked in a nice pink rose and sighed.

"I know you're not really here and yet...wherever you are...I know you're probably hating my guts...which is totally valid by the way," Maleny shook her head then.

"Look at that-" spoke a woman, but not one that Maleny didn't recognize, "-the murderer speaking to the victim. It's a whole sinsiter level, isn't it?"

Maleny turned sideways to see a tall, slim woman in sharp clothing. Her straight, blonde bob of a hair contrasted against the stark red lipstick the woman wore. Maleny narrowed her eyes on the woman and turned completely. "I know you. You worked for Lucien five years ago…"

The woman smiled, confirming Maleny's thoughts. "Sofya Voronova. I 'sold'-" she did quotation marks in the air, "-the last white oak bullet to that frail vampire boy, Josh?"

"Yeah, I remember now," Maleny frowned. "What the hell do you want?"

Sofya raised her eyebrows at the attitude directed at her. "Are _you_ making it sound like _I'm_ the unwelcomed party in the city? Shall I remind you of where your family stands? _Why_ your family stands?" Maleny pursed her lips together as Sofya took a step forwards. "It's because Marcel allowed it so. He, unfortunately, doesn't do well against the enemy."

"You disagree with the new King's tactics?" Maleny raised her head, examining the woman across her. There was a hint of a sneak air in Sofya that rubbed Maleny the wrong way.

"Let's just say if it was in _my_ hands, you'd all be dead by now," Sofya said calmly and easily.

"Ha," Maleny crossed her arms. "Right."

"The Hollow knows your family and it's why its brought you back to the Quarter…"

Maleny now moved forwards too. "And just what do _you_ know about the Hollow, Sofya?"

The woman in question gave a light shrug of her shoulders. "Same as everyone else, of course. I know nothing. I've just put two and two together, you know. But if I were you," she walked around Maleny, her confident smirk giving Maleny a chill, "I'd watch my back. It's not just the Mikaelsons who have enemies in the Quarter."

Maleny's eyes narrowed on Sofya as the woman laughed and continued on her way out.

~ 0 ~

At the church, both Cami and Elijah watched intently as Vincent set up a spell that would apparently help them against the Hollow. The entire church was empty for the very purpose.

"Are these ashes…?" Cami examined over the table.

"These are the ashes of a witch that lost his way and it might just be the key to helping us find ours," Vincent paused and wore a face of a different sort of concern that Cami recognized as guilt.

"What? What is it?" the blonde asked.

"This thing, um, the Hollow its magic has a very unique signature. I felt it on this witch the other day when Marcel and I took him out-"

Cami raised an eyebrow and exchanged a quick glance with Elijah before speaking. "So this Hollow thing...you know it?" because if not Vincent wouldn't have recognized the 'signature' left behind on that witch.

"Well, yes, but…" Vincent sighed. "Look, it spoke to me, once, but I was able to shut it out. A lot of people can't do the same."

"Like your wife," Elijah put that piece in rather fast.

"You know, there's a difference between what we project and what we have inside of our hearts, what we try to hide inside of our hearts, right? Now that thing, it took everything that's dark and twisted inside of me and it used it against me," Vincent motioned to himself with clear guilt. "It used it against my wife and it ended up taking everything that I've ever loved away from me."

"So, then, you have every reason to want to remove it from this earth," and that made Elijah a little more relaxed. The chances of double crossing was lower.

"Yeah. But let's say that we run into that thing today, Elijah. It's gonna take everything that you want to keep buried, it's going to use that and make you do exactly what it wants you to do," Vincent paused and glanced at Cami. "The older you are the most there is to uncover. And that's what makes you a liability to the very niece that we're both trying to protect."

Cami didn't hesitate and put her hand over Elijah's,showing him she was there and very much in the loop. "We should get to work, then."

Vincent gave a very doubtful look but time was precious and so he had to move on. He prepared the rest of the spell and lastly burned some sacred sage. As he chanted the spell, both Cami and Elijah watched for the results.

Vincent saw a continuous lineage of images in his mind. He saw, however, at the end he saw a familiar friend committing the very act of abducting the missing children.

~ 0 ~

"She's getting colder, Dad…" Marlenie mumbled to Klaus beside her after dropping another blanket over Hope. "I can steal all the blankets from the street but this thing - whatever it is - is _inside_ her."

Klaus knew what she meant. Hope was getting worse by the minute and nothing he nor Marlenie would do worked. They were vampires and this was witch business.

"We need to call in Nicolas or aunt Freya," Marlenie advised.

"Do it, now," Klaus gave the instruction. Marlenie nodded and walked out of the room to do so. After Marlenie was gone, he took a seat on the side of the bed and reached for Hope's hand. "I know you can hear me. I want you to listen. The heart which beats in your chest is a warrior's heart. The heart of a Mikaelson. Whatever hold this power has over you, it is nothing compared to your strength. Yours is a power greater than you know. Come on. Hope."

Hope briefly opened her eyes from her slumber. "Dad? I saw them. The other kids. They're so scared. Promise me if you ever see the blue lights, don't look at them."

Despite Klaus not understanding, he assured he wouldn't. It seemed to assuage her fears, but it didn't do much for _his_.

~0~

"Hello there, Will," Cami sat down on the stool beside Will Kinney at the old St. James Infirmary. "Don't suppose you remember me?" she made a motion for the bartender to stop by and she ordered a simple bourbon.

Will raised his eyebrows but didn't actually look at the blonde beside him. "Hm, Camille O'Connell, once upon a time a bartender, psychologist, and faction leader?"

"Okay," Cami accepted her drink from the bartender. "Glad to see you do."

"And now you're a lunatic vampire in league with the Mikaelsons," Will said before taking a drink from his glass.

"Wow, that's ironic coming from the guy who helped abduct innocent children," Cami turned on her stool to face Will. "You should be thankful we're even giving you this chance to simply talk. I was voted the best person to handle this without emotions or violence. Call me an unbiased option."

"Right…" Will raised his eyebrows but Cami didn't let him go on.

"Look, whatever you think you know about the Hollow, you actually don't," Cami got serious and snatched Will's glass from his vicinity. "As far as Vincent knows, it gobbles you up from the inside and leaves you like its name: hollow. I didn't know you personally but my friend did. Amarrah Collins?"

The name sparked in Will's eyes. "Course I remember her. She pledged allegiance to the Mikaelsons too and helped do all sorts of things."

Cami rubbed her forehead. "Whatever this thing promised you, it's not gonna deliver. I don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that.'

"You're wrong. The Hollow rewards those who are loyal," Will argued with passion. "Maybe if Vincent did what it asked him to do, things might be different. For me. For all of us."

"Wow you're really into it," Cami got up from her stool. "And you're gonna regret that, really."

Will didn't hesitate to pull out his gun on her, but the act didn't make her falter. "Is that a threat?"

"No, that's just me being logical and not stupid," Cami easily and swiftly sped around Will, snatched the gun from his possession and hit him on the back of the head. As Will fell to the ground, Cami turned to the open doors.

"You didn't have to do that!" Vincent came rushing in with a much calmer Elijah behind.

"Believe me, I could have done a bunch of things but I chose the least harmful one," Cami leaned on a hip and stared down at the unconscious man.

~ 0 ~

"Klaus, hey, how's Hope?" Maleny found him just outside Hope's room.

Klaus was impatient of course but for her he kept it together and answered calmly. "Nothing works. Nicolas is coming to help out. And you? Where the hell have you been? I hardly think visiting a dead girl's grave takes all afternoon."

Maleny rolled her eyes. "I met Sofya Voronova and she piqued my interest."

This served no purpose for Klaus. "Who the hell is that?"

"The woman who worked for Lucien, remember? She sold the last white oak bullet-"

Klaus snarled at the memory. "Where is she-"

Maleny put a hand on his chest to keep him in place. "Calm down there, mister. She's protected by Marcel now. Actually, she's really cozy with him so I've heard."

"You went out in search for this woman twice!?"

"Well, you didn't hear what she said to me, Klaus! She talked about the Hollow like she knew it - like she served it," Maleny paused and bit her lip. "She gave me bad vibes and that's saying something considering who we are."

"You think she works for the Hollow?"

"I don't know so I tried finding things about her right now but the Quarter seems afraid of her, honestly." Maleny wondered what hold she had over the vampires in the Quarter. She suspected it was more than Marcel actually knew. "She said something to me, specifically for me, and..." she felt like she was being ridiculous and maybe even paranoid.

Klaus, however, didn't take anything lightly when it came from the Quarter. Everyone was after them, after all. "What did she say?"

"Just...just that you - the Mikaelsons - aren't the only ones who have enemies in the Quarter. It's ridiculous," Maleny kept saying as if perhaps with each time repeated it would convince her.

~0~

Vincent was trying to cast a spell on Will that would break the anti-vampire spell implanted in Will's mind. It was taking longer than Elijah would like and his impatience was beginning to show.

"Time is not a luxury we have, Vincent," he said.

Vincent paused just for a second. "Look, Elijah, I'm not gonna let you torture him, all right? He's my friend and he's just as much of a victim as all those kids."

"We're not torturing him, just...it would be swell if you could hurry up," Cami tried keeping things civil between the two.

"I am trying!"

"Why do you insist!?" Elijah snapped.

"Because he's my friend! And because a witch told me that I'm the one that gave this thing breath," Vincent retorted and Cami saw that look of guilt on his face again. "Now I don't know what I did to let it into this world, but I know I ain't just gonna let it take him out."

"Vincent, finish it, please," Cami urged.

Vincent was able break through the anti-vampire spell but Will pulled a last trick up his sleeve. He brandished a talisman belonging to the Hollow and used it to throw Elijah and Cami backwards telekinetically.

"There's no going back, Vince!" Will made a clean escape with all the commotion.

"Any other wonderful ideas?" Elijah spat and received an elbow on the side from Cami.

Vincent, fortunately, had a response for that. "I tagged him with magic, so now we can trace him. Right back to the kids. But we'll need back up."

The good news there was plenty of backup to fall back on.

~ 0 ~

"She's not looking any better," Marlenie noted after Nicolas tried a new herbal remedy for their youngest sibling.

Maleny and Klaus had already left to answer Vincent's request and the twins remained back to keep an eye on Hope. Nicolas was working fervently and Marlenie recognized it, but it didn't mean it was helping. Hope wouldn't wake anymore and her skin was terribly cold.

"I-I don't know what else to do - this is magic that I doubt even aunt Freya understands," Nicolas ran a hand through his longer, dirty blonde hair.

"Is that why she decided to stay wherever she is right now?" Marlenie raised an eyebrow. Nicolas dropped his hand to his side and turned his back on her to try a new remedy that Freya herself had taught him. "What's the matter, Nick? Cat's got your tongue?"

"Marls, our sister is in danger and this is the only thing you can talk about?"

"Oh, please, don't guilt me in like that. I _know_ aunt Freya is planning something with that wolf girl she abducted," a hint of a smirk played at Marlenie's lips. "What's she trying to do, Nick?"

"Look, I'm only going to tell you because I know that even if you agree you would never tell Dad about it," Nicolas sighed and turned sideways to look at his sister. "Aunt Freya thinks she can find a way to kill Marcel. And right now, she's breaking into Marcel's place looking for some of his venom."

Marlenie's eyebrows shot up with shock. It only took a second for her to react positively just like Nicolas imagined she would. "Alright aunt Freya," she laughed quietly. "I wish she would have asked me for help. I'm all the way in."

"Marls," Nicolas hissed and nodded over to Hope.

"She's asleep, first of all," Marlenie raised a finger. "And second of all, you really expect me to feel sorry for Marcel?"

"No, of course not…"

"Then guilty, I suppose, for what uncle Elijah did?"

"Well…"

"I _don't_ ," Marlenie spat. "Uncle Elijah did what I would have done in his place. A threat against my family is a threat I would take down had I the chance to."

"And that is exactly how we got into this mess in the first place," Nicolas pointed at her. "Perhaps if Dad hadn't been so paranoid in the past he wouldn't have made enemies like the ones he has now. If uncle Elijah hadn't killed Marcel we _definitely_ wouldn't be in this situation."

Marlenie softened for a minute and looked to Hope who was fast asleep. Nicolas followed her gaze to Hope and sighed. The next time he spoke it was calmer and much more softer.

"Everyone in this family has gone through hell and back because of who we were and how we acted. We've had all this time and yet we've made nothing of it except enemies."

"You shouldn't speak," Marlenie said quietly. "I think that you are the only one in this family who hasn't really done anything." Nicolas scoffed to disagree with her. "You were taken, Nick, by a crazy witch. Your childhood was stolen from you. If anything, I think you and Hope are the only innocent ones in this family. You two are nothing like me. I've done things...bad things…"

"Had we but world enough and time...I would like to see this family change," Nicolas raised his head, releasing a big sigh, thinking nothing more than on that wish.

"What?" Marlenie gave him a strange look.

"The thing is, we _do_ have all the time in the world," Nicolas went on. "Well, you guys do," he smiled shortly as he acknowledged his mortal life. "We really have all of Time and the world at our feet...so we should start doing things that really matter."

Marlenie agreed with a small nod of her head. "I think it should start with the lovely wedding of our parents, don't you think?"

Nicolas smiled again. "Yeah, that would be a fine starter. And afterwards?"

"Oh, I could show you my business. You, me and Hope - we could go to England for a while…"

"That would be very nice," Nicolas agreed, sharing chuckle with his sister.

~ 0 ~

In the dark bayou, everyone had gathered around in a small group to go over the recent happenings. It was imperative to find the missing children because the sacrifice would begin soon enough. If it began, there was no stopping it.

"The trail leads off this way, so, I guess we, uh, follow the breadcrumbs," Vincent motioned to the pathway just behind him.

"Tactless savages holding a ghost-raising rave," Klaus mused on the nostalgia it gave him. "Best make short work of them. I say we-"

"We split up," Marcel cut him off. "Klaus, you're with me, I'm not letting you out of my sight. Anybody got a problem with that...I don't give a damn."

"It wasn't a surprise," Maleny said flatly and started leaning with Hayley. "Genius." Marcel acknowledged her spat with a mere glance. The feeling was mutual.

They split among the pathway just until they would find the children. While they walked, Hayley told the others of the Crescent wolf woman they had encountered earlier in the day and of her rash ending.

"So this girl was from your own pack...and she just...stabbed herself?" and yet as Maleny reviewed what they'd learned she couldn't find it in her to feel sorry for the woman who had paved the way for innocent children to be harmed.

"I did, but whatever that was today, it wasn't her," Hayley left it clear for everyone. "She said something about blue light…"

"Yeah, that's the 'Fifolet'," Vincent cut in. "New Orleans legend says that a spirit might present itself in a bright blue ball of light."

"Oh, that'll make it easier to see…" Cami mumbled.

"To kill it," Elijah finished for her train of thoughts.

There was not much time to talk after that because the sounds of men's voices carried over. Klaus and Marcel had found the ritual area first and were already attempting to cut it off by killing off the acolytes in the circle.

"Hey!" Vincent ran towards small, wrapped-up, bodies placed over a stone table. "We got to get the kids! Get the kids!"

Will pulled the Hollow's talisman again and began the ritual. "Will? Will! Come on, man. It's over."

"No, Vince. It's only just begun!" Will promised.

Klaus sped into the ritual's circle Will was in and snapped his neck. Marcel followed in suit to take out the other acolyte.

Maleny, Hayley Cami and Elijah each grabbed one of the bodies and took them away from the ritual site. At the same time, flames erupted around Klaus and Marcel and forced them to their knees. Elijah left the child's body he was carrying with the others to try and get his brother out but the flames created an invisible barrier keeping him out.

"What's happening?" Maleny panicked and turned to Vincent for some answers.

"Oh, man, we've got all this wrong…" Vincent rubbed his face. "They _wanted_ us here."

" _Wanted_?" Maleny repeated the word horrifically. "What do you mean 'wanted'!?"

"They want to channel your power, and anchor the Hollow to the living world!" Vincent quickly checked the kids' bodies for any pulses and was relieved to find them all. "Okay, they're alive. These kids are linked to that ritual. We can't free Marcel and Klaus unless we break the spell."

"So then how do we stop this?" Elijah demanded to know.

"I don't know! It's a sacrificial ritual! I can't break it unless I kill one of the kids!"

"Okay well obviously that's not gonna happen," Cami looked at the others just to make sure they were on the same page.

"There's got to be another way," Hayley agreed.

Vincent looked between the children and the flame barrier for a minute or two before coming up with a plan. "Yeah, um so these kids are powering that ritual. But there might be a loophole, if I link it to you…" he pointed to Elijah.

The suited Original raised an eyebrow at that. "Are you suggesting we take my life?"

"I'm suggesting we stake you with wood. You die, temporarily, and that might be enough to break the spell. Elijah agreed under the idea that this would just be temporary. Vincent didn't waste another moment and began to do the spell. "Mare. Mare leurs. Mare leurs esprits! Mare leurs esprits! Mare leurs esprits! Cami, do it now!"

Cami grabbed a branch from a nearby tree and, with a guilt-riddened face, used it to impale Elijah from behind. The Original's skin grayed as he succumbed under the effects of the stake. Maleny then turned to the barrier and anxiously waited for the flames to die down. Vincent continued checking over the children's bodies for the effects of the spell.

"Did it work?" Hayley asked, her gaze flickering from the children to the barrier as well.

Maleny was relieved when the flames vanished and both Klaus and Marcel emerged from it. "It worked," she declared happily.

~ 0 ~

As soon as the group had returned to the compound, Hayley and Klaus went to check on Hope. Nicolas assured them both the Hollow was no longer plaguing the girl and that by morning she should be like nothing ever happened. Down in the courtyard, Elijah had found a bottle of bourbon amongst the mess and was met with Cami who had also found a familiar object between them.

"I always thought that the dark objects was what I really missed most but...I was so wrong," Cami waved the old, brown -leather-bound journal Elijah had gifted her with five years ago. "I am definitely taking this with me tomorrow morning."

Elijah smiled at her. "I found an old friend we can celebrate to," he held the bourbon bottle in his hand.

"Mm, that might be an enemy, actually…" Cami tilted her head at the bottle.

"I've never been able to tell," Elijah admitted and the two shared a small laugh.

Cami slowly sobered from her laugh and decided to ask something she'd been picking at since earlier. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"In the woods, if Vincent hadn't found that loophole what would you have done to those kids?"

Elijah stiffened but he did not lie to her. "Whatever I had to do."

Cami acknowledged his answer with a small nod of her head. She grabbed his free hand with her free hand and gave it a small grip. "I don't want you to keep thinking like that. I know that you and that everyone in this family have a special bond that maybe I'm not really in yet but...we should stop making it a habit of putting us ahead of others. I imagine it's hard keeping your humanity but we can't let you lose it. I won't let you."

Elijah raised their interlocked hands and kissed the back of Cami's. It spoke his words of appreciation and of understanding. She shared a soft smile with him and hoped that things would get better for them all from here on out.

~ 0 ~

That same night, everyone had agreed to stick around for another night and sleep well. The next day it would be full of traveling after all. So, when Maleny caught her daughter making her way towards the exit, she couldn't figure out where exactly Marlenie was heading.

"And where are you going?" she stopped Marlenie just by the stairs. "You realize we leave tomorrow morning, right?"

Marlenie looked up at the second floor with a sneaky smile, one that Maleny could only dread about. "I'm going to see aunt Freya at the cathedral."

"She's not back yet?"

"Nope. It's why I'm gonna go help her."

"Help her with _what_?"

Marlenie adjusted her black coat for a second before answering. "Just...to help. Gotta go, mother," she wiggled her fingers and sped out, leaving her mother to call her name out in vain.

Maleny wasn't sure what the hell was going on there but she was sure they would soon find out.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Soo...we've got little Hope all better. Too bad the Hollow is still coming for them :/. Hope you guys caught the meaning of the title of the story through our dear - rather poetic - Nicolas ;). But what was that with Sofya? Hmm...

P.S I'm actually excited to be writing for this story because I'd been having writer's block for the looooongest and it finally went away a couple days ago. I'm writing again, watching the episodes, and excited to continue! I hope you guys didn't get tired of waiting for updates!

 **For the Reviews:**

 **Senisra** : Thanks so much! Hope you liked the new chapter! :)

 **ugaddan** : Thanks! I loved Freelin too! Hope you liked the new chapter :)


	5. Listen

_Today you will die at the hands of Marcel, unless you kill your enemy first._

Klaus snapped from the distant memory to find himself staring at his reflection on a dirty mirror. For a split moment he thought he saw his eyes flash the same shade of eerie blue he had seen the previous night at the ritual. He leaned closer to the mirror, hand near his right eye, and stared for another minute to see if the same thing would happen again.

"Hey, there you are," Maleny's voice startled him away from the mirror. He turned to find her small figure looking at him with slight concern. At first glance she could tell - and hear his odd rapid heart beats - there was something bothering him. "What is it?" she stepped forwards but he retracted the same step away from her. Maleny's eyebrows raised together, of course surprised by the movement. "Um, okay. You know, I was a bit offended when you didn't come sleep next to me last night because I know you didn't do it to watch over Hope. Now you don't want to be close to me? I thought after five years...that's something you'd want to do again."

Klaus debated about telling her of all the memories of his childhood that oddly resurfaced last night. It was a strange thing since they were memories he never liked to think about much. But they had come without his consent and plagued him until dawn. Even then, Michael's incessant shouts at him still echoed in his ears.

Maleny took his silence as her answer and decided to just get moving. Elijah had them all on a strict schedule anyways. "Look, we're ready to go so...I'll just meet you there…" she turned to leave.

Klaus reached for her arm and used it to bring her back to him. He kissed her softly and let his hands lower to her waist. Maleny gripped his arms as if to keep him there with her. The feeling of loneliness had been too much of a companion for the last five years.

When they broke apart, Klaus brushed a hand over Maleny's cheek. "I'm sorry for hurting your feelings…"

"That's not really the problem…" Maleny searched his face for any indication of what was truly the issue behind his lack of sleep. "You're bothered. What is it?"

"You all need to take Hope and I will follow in a bit," he said and tried to leave Maleny with that.

As _if_.

Maleny held onto his hand and forced him still. "Excuse me? You want me to agree to leave you in the city where Marcel has absolute reign? Why the hell would I ever do that?"

"I need to make sure the threat of the Hollow is really over," Klaus confessed only somewhat, but even that wouldn't be enough for Maleny.

"Why would you think it wasn't over?" she raised an eyebrow.

"I just...I've been seeing things...they could be premonitions of some sort and I would like some answers. That's it."

"Klaus, I don't know about this…"

"Trust me, please," Klaus gripped her hand in his.

"What have you been seeing?" Maleny asked suddenly. "What exactly have you been seeing?" Klaus sighed and looked away for a moment. "Is it to do with the Hollow?"

"I just - Maleny I've got to do this so please just look after Hope," Klaus would not risk letting her into his mind where whatever sentient darkness lurked could reach her. He kissed her one more time before walking away.

~ 0 ~

Marlenie never truly tapped into her witch's side as a child, and now as she watched Freya move back and forth to create the weapon against Marcel, Marlenie wished she would have had a chance to. At last, Freya finally stopped working to raise a small sharpened silver blade with a brown handler. Marlenie's eyes shined with delight at it.

"So, you think that thing-" Marlenie pointed at the blade, "-can kill Marcel?"

Freya hummed as she swayed her head. "Well, I think so. It took some time, my blood, Esther's magic, Marcel's venom and the ashes of Lucien Castle. Combined, it will be powerful enough to kill him."

"Excellent," Marlenie carefully took the knife from Freya like it was a sacrament. "When can we use it?"

Before Freya answered, the two women heard a groan from the side of the room. Keelin was barely waking up and with a killer headache. Marlenie was amused, frankly.

"Is this for me?" Keelin noticed the mug beside her makeshift bed. She picked it up and took a long sip. "Oh, sweet angel of mercy. Mmm. This almost makes up for the whole kidnapping thing."

"Maybe I should've tried that in the past," Marlenie bobbed her head in sarcastic thought. Keelin gave her a long, curious look but Marlenie just smirked and said, "It wasn't easy for a woman to catapult her business in the 18th century."

"Remind me to stay on your good side," Keelin mumbled and looked back to Freya. "So, the last I remember was you saying you figured it out, and then we started drinking tequila like water. So how am I borderline comatose, and you're Little Miss Sunshine?"

Freya went over to a different table to pick up a green mug. "Because of this: "hangover cure". Thousand years old. Also, because mission accomplished."

"So accomplished," Marlenie waved the knife in her hand.

Keelin's gaze lingered on the knife. "Do you really think that weapon could kill Marcel?"

"I'd be happy to test it out," Marlenie passed a finger down the knife.

"Okay," Keelin popped her lips. "So, we're done, then? Yeah, I go back to my life, you go back to yours?"

"Yeah, a deal's a deal," Freya nodded, truly standing by her word. Marlenie made a face, amused again, at the two women.

"Hey, look, don't look so disappointed. I mean, this wasn't exactly built to be a long-term friendship."

"I guess this is a goodbye," Keelin gave an awkward wave of hand to Freya and Marlenie then actually turned to leave.

Marlenie cleared her throat and leaned against the table behind her. "Aunt Freya, let me take this blade for a joy ride, _please_ , before my stick of a brother takes it from us."

Freya gave her niece a sharp look but she felt her phone vibrate. She pulled the phone out from her pocket and saw it was a text from Klaus asking to talk with her.

Of course the matters being about her father, Marlenie refused to leave Freya's cathedral. She made it her business to know what was wrong, and despite Klaus himself telling her to get going with the rest of the family she stood her ground. She and Freya listened to Klaus tell them what the Hollow's ritual was like. Marlenie had planked down on the nearby table as she watched Klaus let his blood from his palm drip into a bowl Freya was holding.

"So, you fought actual evil and instead of a medal you've been infected by some depraved ghost?" Marlenie mused. "See, that's why I don't play hero." Klaus warned her with a free hand to remain quiet.

"Well, I know purging spells and cleansing rituals, so I can fix this," Freya assured her brother. "In the meantime, have you considered that you're not the only one infected?"

Klaus didn't have to think much to know. "Marcel was exposed, as well."

"In your visions, our father's goading you to kill your enemy. If Marcel has seen something similar…"

"Then we're all on the chopping block…"

"I need to purify you both," Freya declared.

"No! Not yet. If the Hollow can look into me, then I can look back at it, find out what it is, what it wants."

"Why Marcel?" Marlenie asked, plainly ignoring the look on her father's face. "Why can't we just leave him to fight it on his own?"

"The Hollow is not just a threat against Marcel, it came after Hope need I remind you?" Klaus walked up to her, recognizing her scrutinizing face all too well as his own.

"Fine, but if you're gonna go play hero for the man who nearly killed this family, at least take precautions," Marlenie held up the enchanted danger Freya created.

Klaus took one look at the weapon and turned on Freya. The blonde shrugged casually. "You've got an hour before I'm purifying you both. But if Marcel comes after you, use that."

"Can't believe you're actually mad," Marlenie mumbled and pushed the dagger to Klaus. "Would've expected more from you, Dad," she spat and walked out of the cathedral first.

~0~

In St. James's infirmary, Sofya Voronova stared at the cracked mirror in front of her, specifically cracked in the Hollow's sigil. Through it she saw the reflection of a middle aged man as he walked into the empty place. With a smile, she turned around to greet him.

"Dominic."

"Sofya," the loyal business man walked up to her.

"Marcel will be here in a moment. I hope you do keep your word and actually purify him."

"As long as you keep the end of your bargain, we'll both have what we want," the man promised. "The Hollow is already anchored, by what you've told me so far, but it's stuck between the world of the living and wherever it was trapped."

" _Was_ trapped?"

"It broke free. Some time ago, there must have been a massive release of energy."

Sofya looked to the side as she put the pieces together. "The Ancestral Realm. Marcel said Vincent blew the link, so he must've set it free."

"Who cares how it got out. It's our opportunity now. The Hollow requires blood of immortal creatures, the more powerful the better," Dominic eyed her so that she understood.

"Between Marcel's and Klaus Mikaelson's, I think it should be enough," Sofya smiled to herself.

"It only needs one drop of blood but if they end up killing each other then so be it."

"I really would rather it was Klaus…" Sofya didn't hesitate to admit. "Marcel isn't actually bad. I quite like him."

"Well don't let it interfere with our plans," Dominic warned. "After the Hollow resurfaces, it will look for the targeted Host."

Sofya's eyes gleamed with malice. "And it has already been secured. You know Luka has been preparing for quite a while."

~ 0 ~

"Mom, take a look at this," Nicolas came into the upstairs lounge room with his phone in hand.

Maleny had been boredly spending her time trying to sift through things that were possibly still useful for them to take. Marcel had not touched anything so there were probably still some things left over.

She dusted her hands off on her jeans and turned to her son. She then took the phone and examined the photo on the screen. "It's just...writing…" she scrutinized the writing and could make some words out, but the words weren't what caught her attention...it was the WAY way the words were written.

Nicolas studiously watched his mother and explained his reason for showing the picture to her. "Hayley just sent it."

"I thought she brought Hope to see Mary, why is she looking at some weird journal?"

"She said the journal belonged to Mary's husband. He filled it in the months before he died."

"Hayley wouldn't care unless it had something to do with her family," Maleny scrolled through various pictures of the journal writing. "I've seen this before…"

"Seen what?"

Maleny took the phone with her out to the hallway. She found the person she was looking for in the study room. "Cami, look at this," she showed the other vampire the phone. Cami made a face but nonetheless stared at the screen. "See how the writing is deteriorating? Remember who else did that…?"

Cami hummed and nodded. "A good portion of my ancestors. Whose is this?" her eyes flickered from Maleny to Nicolas.

"It belonged to Mary's husband," Nicolas repeated.

Cami scrolled to the last picture available and raised an eyebrow. "In the end, he can't even form a coherent sentence. That's a class A hex. At the very least he was being controlled by some force."

"Like the Hollow," Maleny said without a second thought. "I mean, we could even go as far as saying that the Hollow might have made Mary's husband commit terrible acts like murder."

"Well my uncle did try to kill me once," Cami sighed.

"So what if the Hollow is still out to do the same thing to others…?" Maleny's eyes were widening when she began to put two and two together. "He was acting weird…"

"Who was?" Nicolas asked.

"Your father," Maleny quickly rushed out of the place with the intention of finding Klaus before he did something she was sure he would regret later.

~ 0 ~

Marcel was cautious as he arrived at the abandoned house where the Hollow first made its presence known to Vincent. He gripped tight the purified beads Dominic had given him earlier and pushed open the door. He stepped inside and found no one inside. Without hesitation, he rushed to bury the beads underground in the living room, just like Dominic had instructed.

"Hello Marcel," Klaus' voice made him freeze and look up. Marcel barely glared when the door shut behind Klaus. This made no surprise on the hybrid. He glanced back at the shut door and didn't even attempt to open it. There was no point. He knew what the Hollow wanted. "Seems neither of us is to leave until one of us dies."

Marcel rolled his eyes. "I know you're seeing things, Klaus. But I have a way to fix that for both of us-"

"And I'm to take your word for it, am I?"

"Oh, don't be stupid. You can't beat me."

"Oh, but I can," Klaus revealed the enchanted dagger Freya had made. "You see, courtesy of my dear sister. Now you're not so unkillable after all."

Marcel didn't look remotely surprised. Instead, he laughed. "Of course. You say our feud is over, but you're off building a weapon that can kill me." It was so typical of a Mikaelson, really. He blamed himself for not thinking about it earlier.

"Well, I wouldn't need it if I knew you could be trusted!"

"Well, trust me now and we both get to live!"

"How can you trust yourself?" countered Klaus. All day he'd been getting wicked visits from the Hollow inhabiting the dead body of Mikael, torturing him with weakness insults. He thought he actually killed Freya in one of those visions. It made him, admittedly, a danger to those he loved.

Marcel raised the purified beads for Klaus to see. "Spelled beads keep me safe from this damn thing. I bury these here and we're done, all right? No need to fight."

"He hopes to lower your guard with his lies. Then he will wrench the dagger out of your hand," the Hollow, as Mikael, whispered behind Klaus. "Don't be a fool."

"I am no fool," Klaus recited, setting Marcel into a fighting stance.

"Damn it, Klaus, I didn't come to fight! Alright? Put the weapon down," Marcel motioned Klaus to lower the dagger which the hybrid had a tight hold on.

"My family won't be safe unless you're put down!"

Marcel figured the Hollow had gotten to Klaus much more than it had to himself. Klaus was already one paranoid man, and Marcel dreaded what the Hollow already had him thinking. He couldn't take that chance. He had to attack.

And so the two began at it.

~ 0 ~

Outside the house, Freya came running up the front steps and pulled on the doorknob. Surprise, it was enchanted shut. She backed up a couple steps and started a spell to get the door open. Due to her nonstop working ethics, the spell proved to be her last straw. Blood began to spill from her nose, forcing her to stop the spell before she collapsed.

"Dammit!" she pushed on the barrier keeping her out.

~ 0 ~

The Hollow appeared to Marcel in the guise of Elijah who seemed to look down on Marcel. "End this," he ordered like it was the logical ending Marcel had to enact. "There is no other way."

Marcel growled and pushed harder against Klaus.

~ 0 ~

"Aunt Freya!" Nicolas called as soon as his mother had sped them to the place.

"Oh my God!" Maleny rushed up to the blonde woman and, with Nicolas' help, stood her back on her feet.

"They're in there, the both of them," Freya nodded at the door. "The Hollow will make them kill each other."

"And that's gonna let the Hollow into our world," Nicolas gritted his teeth together. "Okay, then. Let's try one last time this spell. Can you do it?"

Freya determinedly nodded. "Mal, can you help us?"

"Anchor away," Maleny held her hands out to Freya and Nicolas.

~ 0 ~

Marcel landed with a loud crash against the wooden floor. A stake had been embedded on his side and dripped blood on the floor. He yanked it out and chucked it to the side. "I should've killed you when I had the chance," he faced a smug Klaus.

"Your mistake," the hybrid shrugged.

"Fight, you coward, or today will be your daughter's last," the Hollow as Mikael urged him to finish it off already.

"I won't let you hurt my child!"

"Do it now, or forever be a servant to the Mikaelsons," Elijah/Hollow warned Marcel who didn't take it with the same anger as Klaus.

"I'm not this thing's puppet and neither are you!" he told Klaus as he got back up. "All right, we cannot give it what it wants."

Klaus didn't listen. All he knew was that this was the way to keep Hope finally safe. He sped forwards and snapped Marcel's neck, rendering the other man unconscious. A second later, the front door burst open.

"Don't do anything!" Freya came running in first. Maleny and Nicolas did the same but came to a skidded stop when they saw a black shadow manifesting itself across them.

"The...Hollow?" Maleny dreaded they were too late, but Freya did not give it the opportunity.

"Leave my family alone!" she threw the purification potion she'd created to the shadow.

Said shadow screeched and tried to retaliate but lost its form instead.

~ 0 ~

Cami gave a light knock to the open door of Hayley's bedroom. The brunette was still reading over the journal she'd taken from Mary when Cami walked in.

"I've read this thing three times already," Hayley looked up with a worn face.

"Don't do that, it'll only make you paranoid."

"But how could I not be, Cami?" Hayley put the journal beside her and took a deep breath. "If it's true then everyone in my family has died because of the Hollow. All these executions, people dying in floods, fires or...just vanishing? It's all because of the Hollow. My little girl and I are next."

"No, you are not," Cami took a seat at the edge of the bed. "You know the best thing about this family? We don't die. We don't let each other die."

"I just...I just don't know what to think," Hayley shook her head. It was strange feeling this scared over a spirit. She'd faced worse things and come out alright, even though there had been painful losses along the way.

"Trust me, I get it. I've been there," Cami sighed. "My family is no stranger to targeted deaths. There's a lot of my ancestors that I'm sure have been killed by whatever supernaturals were around in their time. Sometimes I wonder how lucky I was to survive it."

"How did you get over it? The...fear?"

"I found you all," Cami gave a little smile. "And while it is a pretty complex family, I feel safe."

"You do?" Hayley's doubtful face made Cami laugh.

"It's weird, I know, but...what can I say? I can see an eternity with you all."

"Maybe some more than others…" Hayley mumbled and smirked when Cami blushed. "Thanks Cami."

"Anytime. And believe me, this Hollow thing? It's not going to end like my family's did. No one is touching you nor Hope," Cami assured and touched Hayley's hand. "Promise."

~ 0 ~

Elijah finished pouring himself a drink then handed another one to Klaus who declined at the first attempt.

"I prefer my mind remain unaltered for the time being."

"Weird. I feel the exact opposite," Elijah handed the second drink then to Maleny who graciously accepted.

"New Orleans sure has given us the good ole welcoming pack," she remarked with a tired sigh.

"Well, we can all rest easy tonight," Freya came in with Nicolas. "Our spells have Marcel bound and cloaked."

"And the best news of it all is that we didn't find any traces of the Hollow's magic in him and you, Dad," Nicolas reported.

"So where has it gone?" Elijah wondered.

"Mm, it's a ghost now," Maleny lowered her drink. "That's the beauty of ghosts - they can go anywhere the hell they want."

"Which means we have to be prepared," Freya walked up to Klaus and held her hand out.

Klaus knew exactly what she wanted, and while he did pull out the dagger, he hesitated to return it. "I think I might hold onto it for now."

Freya's face indicated that was never going to happen. "This wasn't a gift," she retorted. "Today proved Marcel's a threat, whether used as a sacrifice or possessed."

"Regardless-"

"What good is having a weapon if you won't use it?"

"Niklaus, give it to her," Elijah ordered like an older brother would.

Klaus looked over to him and his serious face. Maleny just gave a simple shrug. To her, it didn't matter who the hell carried the enchanted dagger. That was the least of their worries at the moment.

"Having a monopoly of power makes you a target, sister. Remember that," Klaus warned as he gave the dagger back to Freya. "You think I spared Marcel out of some mawkish sentimentality. The Hollow wanted both of us dead. Killing him would have given it what it wanted. Mercy was necessary. That's all."

"Hm, then you might want to explain that to your daughter," Freya sarcastically smiled. "If anyone doubts Marcel, it's Marlenie."

On that, no one had anything to disagree with.

~ 0 ~

Sofya impatiently waited while Dominic scoured the abandoned house for the blood leftover. "You lied to me," she called and tapped her fingers on her hip.

"Did I?" Dominic carelessly asked. He stopped beside a small plant growing in between the creaks of the floors. There was a scarlet red dripping from the leaves.

"I wanted Klaus dead," Sofya continued from her spot. "We had a deal. Marcel getting taken was not part of it. I should kill you."

"You could," Dominic agreed, though sounded not too afraid of the possibility. "But then you'll never get what you want. Marcel's blood was spilled today. As he is the only one who can kill an Original the Hollow has received this offering and given us a gift in return. A single scratch from that thorn-" he pointed her to the plant that did indeed have thorns sprouting from it, "-will kill an Original. And we both get what we want."

"You want a blood sacrifice for your dead witch, I don't care. All I want is my revenge," Sofya nodded him to get the thorns out of the plant. They had much work to do if they wanted to continue with their respective plans.

~ 0 ~

Marlenie threw several debris straight across her bedroom, hoping to clear some things up to decently sleep on the bed. In one of those, she threw a wooden plank over her shoulder but heard a 'whoosh!' behind preventing it from hitting the pile of debris on the floor. She paused for a moment, never turning her back to the visitor, but ultimately returned to cleaning like nothing happened.

"I'm intending on sleeping so I would definitely appreciate you closing the door on your way out," was all she said.

"Is that any way to speak to your father?" Klaus' playful voice was not enough to amuse Marlenie.

She rolled her eyes as she walked around the bed. She pulled on the covers and crinkled her nose at the dust it gave off. "Just tell me when the hell we get to leave, at least."

"Plans have changed, Marls, and you know it. We cannot leave," Klaus lowered the plank of wood to the pile of debris, letting it fall gently.

Marlenie stopped again and sideways glanced at him. "And let me guess, you're intending on keeping Marcel below our house?"

Klaus stretched his arms to his sides and nodded. "You know we have to-"

" _No_ , we don't have to," Marlenie's sharp jab cut him off. She moved over to the other side of the bed, her cleaning becoming more aggressive as her hands shook the covers to get rid of more dust. "We don't _have_ to stay! We don't-" she gave one particular shake that almost made her sneeze, "-have to keep Marcel bloody Gerard underneath my home, and we most certainly don't have to stay _here_!" she let the covers fall, ignoring its messy landing as she turned to her father.

"Marlenie, the Hollow is after power and we cannot allow it to grow. It already targeted Hope-"

"Exactly my point!" Marlenie threw her hands in the air in distress. "Let's get my baby sister to safety far away from this city! I don't want to stay here, don't you understand? It scares me."

And if there was something Marlenie hated was to show she was scared. Klaus recognized that as one of his very strong traits. Klaus walked towards her and gently grabbed her arms, trying to meet her gaze which had lowered in an attempt to hide her feelings.

"Nothing will harm you ever again," he swore. "I know that you haven't had anyone looking out for you since you were a child, and it pains me that it is my fault-"

"No, Dad, it's not-"

"It is. You shouldn't have gone through everything that you did…" Klaus cleared off a tear from Marlenie's cheek.

"I just don't want to stay in the city that wants all of us dead and who are more than probably already working on a way to kill us," Marlenie admitted. "It's why I think we should have already gotten rid of Marcel. Every second that he remains alive is another second he has to plot our family's demise."

"He's not doing that where he is right now," that Klaus was sure of. He brought his daughter for a hug and sighed. "I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to return to Evie in England. Maybe you could return to your business, and…"

Marlenie pulled away from him and shook her head. "No. I talked to Evie and she's doing fine with the business. I can do my work from here. I don't ever want to leave you, Mum or Nick ever again." It was her biggest nightmare to lose her family all over again, even a thousand years later.

Klaus gave a little smile. "Always and forever we remain together."

"Yeah," Marlenie agreed, but part of her wondered if the Hollow would manage to do what Marcel had failed once.

~ 0 ~

A young man with neatly cut black hair and sharp, green eyes walked into the abandoned house Klaus and Marcel had fought in hours ago. Sofya was still watching Dominic collect thorns of a small stump growing between the floorboards.

"I take it the duel was a success?" the young man inquired once he stopped beside Sofya.

"Neither are dead if that's what you want to know," Sofya said before he got any ideas.

"Pity."

"The stump will grow as the days go by," Dominic straightened up on his feet. He held a bag of full of the magical thorns. "But in the meanwhile we have enough to cause a real threat to the Originals. Luka, how are we doing the witches?"

The young man raised his head, his hands behind him, giving him the air of maturity that made Sofya roll her eyes. He was always so arrogant. "We're in the middle of selecting our four witches."

"Why so much wasted time?" Sofya asked. "Just pick four and slit their throats already."

Luka rolled his eyes at her, glancing at her with condescension. "We're straying from the traditional rituals therefore we have to be as careful as possible. But rest assured it _will_ work and the Hollow will have its temporary Host."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

And hellooooo I am back! I know it took me quite a while to update again and I just have to say it was a tough semester to get through! It was my final one so I had to make sure everything was done right so that I could graduate - which I did last week ;). So now that it's over, I'm getting more time to write again!

Ah yes, and so the thorns have arrived. And fair warning that Sofya will not have the same role as the show portrayed her towards the end. When she says she wants revenge, she _wants_ revenge. As for the Mikaelsons...they have a lot coming to them yikes...


	6. A Spell, A Dance & A Threat

Marlenie kicked some sand into Marcel's ring barrier, smirking when the man glowered. His chains rumbled as he moved to set his hands over his knees. "Ah, the middle Mikaelson," he gave her a look over. "For what it's worth, it's nice to see you're up after Lucien's poison."

Marlenie crossed her arms and returned his previous glower. "The same poison that now runs through _your_ veins?"

"Well…" Marcel managed a smirk despite his current situation. Being the Mikaelsons' prisoner wasn't exactly what he thought he would be doing this week, but…

"Why Dad refuses to kill you will forever infuriate me," Marlenie muttered all the meanwhile her eyes burned on Marcel's figure. "I suppose it was the same reason you couldn't kill him either."

Marcel's face went flat. He sighed and motioned with his hand, "Was there something you needed?"

"Just tell me where you keep your finest chinapieces so that I remember to break them when I'm in your penthouse," Marlenie was quick to smirk.

"You're going to ransack my place?"

"Did you really think we wouldn't?"

"People _will_ notice that I'm gone," Marcel warned her but she scoffed.

"I spent a thousand years in hiding, as was my family, you really think we don't know how to deceive a bunch of idiots in this city?" Marlenie almost laughed at how little Marcel knew her family.

"You know, you're just as cocky as your father is."

Marlenie squatted down in front of the boundary keeping Marcel nice and still. Her smirk gracing her lips indicated she'd just received a compliment. "But unlike my father, I don't intend on keeping this charade up. I _will_ find a way to end you once and for all."

"Marls?" Nicolas stormed into the dungeon. "What the hell are you doing here? You know you're not allowed!"

Marlenie rolled her eyes and shook his hand off her arm. "Oh drop it, I'm not a child. Besides, I was just having a nice chat with our prisoner."

Nicolas sighed and stepped aside, gesturing Marlenie to the open gate. "Please just leave. There is absolutely no point of you being here. Go!"

With another roll of her eyes, Marlenie listened and walked out the gate. She said what she wanted to anyways. Nicolas gave a long stare at Marcel, one that was uncharacteristically filled with guilt, before he too left.

~ 0 ~

 _'1953, cluster of violent rituals in four different locations, all in the span of two months. Similarity of the rituals, to me, suggests a possible connection to the Hollow. 1992, more violent clusters, this time in Algiers, Tremé, the Bayou, and Marigny. Again, four different locations. Why is it always four locations?'_

Vincent was forced to stop when he heard someone knocking on his door. He put down his tape recorder and went to go answer. On the other side stood Cami with a nervous smile. "What do you want, Cami?"

Cami cleared her throat. "I think we both know what."

"No, I don't know what," Vincent crossed his arms. "Because I, frankly, don't know you anymore Cami. I haven't since five years ago, actually."

Cami released a sigh and put a hand against the doorway's threshold. "Look, I stand where I have for the past five years and if it were up to me I wouldn't return to this city anymore. I don't have any family in the Quarter and my parents don't even speak to me anymore, so…" she shrugged. "But I'm here because there's a strange entity targeting people and one of those people turned out to be a sweet, innocent girl who has no business being harmed because we-" she pointed at Vincent then herself, "-can't get along civilly."

Vincent couldn't help falter just a bit. Hope Mikaelson continued to be a gray area for him and probably Marcel when it came to hating the Mikaelson family. "I would love to be civil but it's a bit difficult when I haven't seen Marcel for days."

Cami knew Elijah advised her to play dumb about Marcel's whereabouts but she felt like to get the help they needed, honesty was a requirement. "He's...at the compound…" Vincent did not look the least bit surprised. "He's okay but, the others don't want to let him go until we're sure the Hollow isn't in him."

"Cami!"

"I'm sorry, but it's just a precaution," she motioned with her hands it would be fine. "Do you think I would let something bad happen to Marcel?"

"I don't know, would you?"

It was Cami's turn to fall flat. "Vincent, like it or not, we are on the same team for once. Now we need to know what the Hollow is, where it came from, and how to stop it before it causes more trouble. You want that, and believe me when I say that I want that too."

Vincent stared at her for a full minute. There was still that same determination in her to help people out, even after everything. "Well...if it's gonna help me fight this thing, you're gonna have to know what you're up against. Come in before I change my mind."

~ 0 ~

When Hayley emerged from her bedroom and looked down at the courtyard, she found a bunch of people bustling across from one room to the other carrying several tables, drinks and other obvious party supplies. Her eyes soon landed on a blonde sitting on the couch, crossed legs, who was watching said employees.

"Um, what's going on?" Hayley's call barely made Maleny look away from a woman carrying a stack of glasses over her shoulder.

"Oh you know...same old same old. Whenever the Mikaelsons are under threat...they throw wicked parties," Maleny leaned back on the couch.

"What for?" Hayley cast a distasteful look at a set of flowers being hauled across the courtyard.

"Because we're under threat," Maleny laughed at the irony.

"Are we having a party?" both women heard Hope's gasp. She and Nicolas were coming into the building with the latter holding a bag of…

"Are those sweets?" Maleny smelled the sweet chocolate scent before they even reached her. "Nicolas, did you buy your sister sweets for breakfast?"

"Of course not," Nicolas told her before nervously looking up at Hayley, "Of course not." Hayley smiled. She knew he was very responsible, sometimes more than any of them.

"Are we having a party, Mom?" Hope kept spinning as different employees passed her with supplies.

"Apparently, we are," Hayley gave a light shrug. "But before you get any ideas, this party is not for kids."

Hope's excitement dropped and was replaced by a pout. "But I won't cause trouble. I promise!"

"Your mother is right, Hope," Klaus walked in from one of the back rooms, no doubt yet another room for the party. The little girl turned to him, still exhibiting her pout. "This gathering is for adults."

Hope sighed and allowed Nicolas to put an arm around her shoulders. "It's okay Hope. Remember, we had plans today anyways?"

"Oh, really? And what are those plans?" Maleny raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well…" Nicolas once again nervously glanced up at Hayley then his father, "...with permission, I would like to teach Hope a little bit more about her magic. Completely supervised and nothing out of her boundaries."

"Can I please?" Hope put away her pout and took on her best smile for her parents.

"Nothing out of the ordinary?" Hayley made sure with Nicolas first. He'd always attempted to teach Hope a little something about magic here and there, but it was always more about controlling than using it.

Nicolas cleared his throat as he moved on over to his own parents, whispering but knowing Hayley was still able to hear upstairs. "I think with the Hollow around it's best to take precautions anywhere we can."

"What are you saying?" Hope frowned. She hated when the adults left her out of conversations. She was big, she understood things!

"Just that I won't give you so much chocolate," Nicolas smiled at her.

"Hope, why don't you go get your room ready for this session, then?" Hayley suggested, even gesturing Hope to come upstairs already. "We wouldn't want a messy room, do we?"

"No," Hope glumly went off towards the stairs.

"Excellent, you will keep an eye on your sister throughout the party," Klaus pointed at Nicolas in warning. "She is not to go anywhere near the guests."

"What exactly are we holding this party for?" Nicolas asked freely now. Maleny made a confused gesture from the couch, still trying to figure that out herself.

"We need to find those who follow the Hollow," Klaus answered, giving them both looks that this should have been obvious.

"You do realize that everyone hates you, right?" Maleny reminded, immediately adding, "I mean, I personally love you, but...the others...they don't really...yeah…"

"But they love Marcel. And as the invite states, he is the co-host. Tonight we celebrate our truce."

Hayley came down the staircase, almost laughing. "So you're throwing a fake party, in honor of a fake truce, and your guest of honor is in a dungeon?"

"Marcel's attendance would only complicate matters, besides I'll have my hands full weeding out those in league with The Hollow."

"Have fun with that. I'm just going to look for Freya," Hayley directed a finger at Nicolas again. "Your on babysitting duty."

"It's nothing new," Nicolas reminded her. "And if you're looking for aunt Freya, I think she's having a drink with Keelin."

Hayley made an initial confused face but, seeing as time was running, she didn't waste time explaining herself to them. She just gave them the wave and hurried out of the compound.

~ 0 ~

Cami stared at four distinct maps full of post-its and and connecting strings that Vincent had put up against the wall. It didn't really make sense to Cami what this had to do with the Hollow, but she knew Vincent had probably already made some connections that was going to be valuable later.

"This thing has been haunting the city for a very long time. And before today the only thing I knew about it was that it was a spirit, practiced some very dark magic, and it was trying desperately to get back into this world," Vincent unintentionally gripped the handle of his coffee mug. The more he stared at the maps the more frustrated he got with no answers. "And that's why it tried to sacrifice those kids. That's why it tried to do the exact same thing to Marcel and to Klaus. Because if it kills them, if they die, it absorbs all of their power."

"Like a siphoner," Cami crinkled her nose. "So is this the mapping of siphoning...or?" she made a nod at the maps.

"This is the history of the city. This is the ebb and flow of violence and tragedy. Look, this is, um, Madame LaLaurie, this is uh, The Axeman. I mean the list goes on and on and on and on and on and sometimes it's hidden, but if you know what you're looking for, right, there's always a sign it's The Hollow. And when it does bubble up, it always do so in a pattern of four."

"And what exactly does this thing want?"

"It's a ghost, it, it, it wants access to this world. So it reaches out and it whispers to the desperate and in need."

"Ooh…" Cami leaned back against the table, giving a shake of her head. "And there are oh-so-many desperate people in this world. This is why we're throwing the party. Elijah thinks that someone is going to be there, someone who can...tell us more about the Hollow." She then glanced at Vincent, more serious now. "Please help us find them."

~ 0 ~

"You and I both know you are putting far too much energy in this project that's going to be - somehow - break later tonight," Maleny watched from the couch as Klaus finished chiseling an ice sculpture of the famous Quarter symbol.

"One could say the same about your, uh...nails?" Klaus had only stopped to point with his chisel at the silent human currently doing Maleny's left hand's nails.

"Are you implying I'm going to break a nail when I'm intending on being the oh-so-charming lady of the house tonight?" her sarcastic smile was enough to pull him towards her.

"I would expect nothing less of you, _Mrs_. Mikaelson," he bent down in front of her, his wide smirk making her blush.

"You know I was only kidding, right?"

" _I_ was not."

"If we're being technical, Freya would be the lady of the house since she _is_ your sister-"

Klaus wasn't interested in hearing about technicalities so he just leaned forwards and kissed her. "As far as I'm concerned, you're the only one here."

"What is this I hear about a party?" Marlenie came into the courtyard with Elijah beside her. "Uncle Elijah had to be the one to tell me!"

"In my defence, I was under the impression everyone knew of the plan," Elijah spared his brother and Maleny sharp looks.

"I thought it better if Marlenie skipped her stressful moments," Klaus replied calmly as he returned to his chiseling.

Marlenie audibly huffed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you are passing some limits, dear," Maleny was the one to answer. She waved the human beside her to leave them be. She then pushed herself up from the couch. "Nicolas told us how you went down to the dungeon to see Marcel this morning. What for?"

Marlenie rolled her eyes, mumbling "blabber mouth" at her absent brother, and groaned. "I was informing him that we would be going through his penthouse."

"What was the need, Marls?" Maleny hated to see her daughter filled with so much resent that she couldn't do anything about.

"Five years he kept Dad in there, so you really want to ask me why I went down there?"

"Did you at least find anything in the penthouse?" Klaus moved around the ice sculpture.

Elijah reached inside his inside pocket and pulled out Papa Tunde's blade. "It was the only valuable thing he had in there."

"And you're sure no one knows we were in there?"

"Niklaus, are you implying that my sifting skills have been forgotten?"

"Please put that thing away somewhere I'll never have to see it," Maleny frowned at the blade Elijah held so carefully.

"Believe me, we will," Elijah ascertained and put the blade back into his pocket. He looked around the courtyard to see almost everything was finished hanging. Colorful streams of green, gold and purple was dangling from the rails. Typical Mardi Gras decorations. "This seems to have all the makings of a fine party."

"Too bad it'll only last for...what? An hour at most?" Marlenie leaned on her hip, arms crossed while she gazed at the decorations. "Poor linens never stood a chance against blood."

Elijah pointed at her very carefully, his face already forming into that natural 'lecturing uncle' form only he knew how to do. Kol was zero in that department. "Violence must only be seen as a last resort, it will only weaken our position."

"I am my father's daughter," Marlenie responded with and missed Klaus' smirk behind the sculpture.

Elijah was not amused. "Then channel your mother's restraint and be on your best behavior."

"You flatter me, Elijah. I will take care of it, don't worry," Maleny moved up to her daughter. "Marlenie understands the importance of this night and will not ruin it."

"You know I wouldn't," Marlenie rolled her eyes.

"The point of tonight is to create a false sense of security," Elijah said, his gaze flickering from Marlenie to Klaus. "A little music, a little champagne, some stealthy reconnaissance.. no bloodshed. Do we understand...children?"

Klaus then directed his chisel at Elijah. "They threatened me. They threatened my child. Bloodshed is inevitable."

"And how do we protect Hope from all of this?" Elijah's question made all three go silent for a minute. "She worships you, Niklaus. And she must not see the monster."

"I do not wish for her to see me as a monster, but I cannot sit idly by while threats to our family go unanswered," Klaus' frustration laced each of his words.

"If Dad can't act, then rest assured we can," Marlenie volunteered. "The only good thing about being on the run and never meeting your parents is that you don't falter at the idea of bloodshed." While her words didn't exactly make any of the adults feel much better about her presence at the party, she didn't care. "Come now, mother. I refuse to be fashionless at this party."

Maleny was pulled towards the stairs, but she flashed nervous smiles at the brothers...she really hoped everyone did remain on their best behaviors.

~ 0 ~

Hope desperately wanted to know what was going on outside of her bedroom. She resorted to try and peek from underneath the doorway.

Nicolas chuckled at her every now and then while he prepared some herbs on the ground. "You realize it's impossible to see anything, Hope, right?"

Hope had her nose pressed against the door, so her words were a bit muffled. "I know," she glumly responded. "But I like impossible."

"Ah, so do I," Nicolas hummed. "You know you, me and Marls are basically the embodiment of the word impossible?"

"Yeah, I know."

"Hope, you're not going out there. Sorry."

Hope sighed and straightened on her knees, sitting back on them, and turned her blue gaze on Nicolas. "I understand things, you know. Just because I'm a kid doesn't mean I can't talk to adults downstairs."

"These adults are...a bit special…" Nicolas tried wording his explanation in the right way, but Hope really was smarter than given credit.

"They're people who are vampires, witches and werewolves," she got back on her feet and joined him at the middle of the room. "And they don't like us very much."

"Okay, well, then that means you should know we have to be cautious," Nicolas said, carefully moving a bowl of herbs to her. "And it's why we always have to train."

"Okay, then what are we learning today?" Hope reached for her bracelet dampening her powers.

"It's a simple sensory spell," Nicolas promised. She tended to get nervous whenever they learned something new so he wanted her to be completely relaxed.

"What's it supposed to do?" Hope handed him her bracelet for safekeeping. She pushed her hair behind her ears and awaited to hear the explanation.

"It tells us if there's danger around us. If there's people, or...any sort of threatening magic."

"Like the Hollow," Hope made the connections. Her gaze slowly fell to the bowl of herbs in front of her. "I bet we would sense that."

"Yes, we would. So I want to teach you how to do this on your own in case you ever feel like there might be danger," Nicolas slipped a finger under her chin and tapped it, making her smile. "Don't be down, Hope. We always have this."

Hope gave him a nod and settled herself to learn the spell. "How do we start?"

~ 0 ~

The Mikaelson Compound didn't even appear to have been abandoned for the past five years. Its courtyard was filled with jazzy music and bustling supernaturals mingling. It made it a bit difficult for Vincent to go through the crowd, shaking hands with everyone he could. He came across Cami first, or rather she found him first and started making her way through.

She sported a dark blue cocktail dress with a laced scooped neckline. Little silver flowers adorned the hemline of the laced neckline, matching the silver flower pin over her elegant hair bun. All in all, she was playing the charade of a simple party-goer really well. "How are we doing?" she asked him after casually shaking hands with him for show.

"Just trying to get some pre-readings first," Vincent answered in a low tone, eyes flickering from one guest to another.

"Pre-readings?" she repeated, blinking with confusion.

"Give me an hour and then we'll meet upstairs, okay?"

Cami didn't know exactly what Vincent was planning, but unlike him she still fully trusted him. She stepped aside and allowed him to continue with his plan.

From the top of the stairway, Elijah commanded the attention of all the guests. He held a glass of champagne, soon making the guests follow in suit. "My dear friends, tonight we celebrate an alliance between our family and Marcel Gerard. Unfortunately, as is his custom, Marcel is unfashionably late. So until such a time as he graces us with his presence, let us all raise a glass and salute the glorious city of New Orleans."

Just as he was about to raise his glass for the drink, Klaus appeared beside him. "But before we do, my brother and I wish to acknowledge a painful truth. Our relationship with this city, and indeed with most of you, has been long and complicated. We hope you will be put at ease knowing that we intend but a brief and peaceful stay. Let this evening be a rest bit from past grievances and an opportunity to form new friendships. Cheers."

The two brothers clinked glasses and were joined by the rest of the guests.

~ 0 ~

"That was a really nice, completely made up, speech," Maleny made a faux toast at Klaus as he approached her. Her dark, plum-stained lips left her print on her glass.

"Yes, well, whether they believed it or not isn't the goal, love," he took her glass and drank the remainder of the champagne. Maleny chuckled when she saw the stain of her lipstick now smudged on his lips. She stepped closer and rubbed it off with her thumb. He grabbed her thumb then slid his fingers around her hand. "You're looking ravishing as usual. Five years and it's done nothing to you."

Maleny wore a burgundy floor-length dress with a split at the side, showcasing a leg every now and then, and had an off-the-shoulder, mild heart shaped neckline revealing smooth skin.

Klaus pushed some of her curled hair behind her shoulders. "I might just consider throwing more parties to see you in these dresses." She rolled her eyes but she succumbed to his touch as he brushed his fingers over her skin near her neck. "If we weren't at this party right now…"

Maleny flushed when he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. "Please don't start what you can't finish at the moment," she almost begged him. For measure, she jabbed a finger against his chest and pushed him back a step. "How are we doing on that plan, remember?"

Klaus grumbled but did get back on business. He turned back to the party, eyes scouring the guests until he found Vincent once again doing the handshaking bit. "From what Camille has informed Elijah and myself, Vincent will soon be able to take a reading and find which one of these freeloaders is working with the Hollow."

"Then let's make sure we don't let anyone leave beforehand," Maleny readjusted her hair over her shoulders. "I've already put Marlenie at the minor entrance. I figured if anyone tried to escape it would be through a less busy spot."

"I would think the same," Klaus agreed and suddenly spotted Vincent and Cami heading for the staircase. "And I think we might just get our culprit in a couple of minutes."

Maleny followed his gaze and saw Vincent and Cami. She nodded him to go after them, reassuring she would keep an eye on the guests along with Elijah.

~ 0 ~

Hope's face scrunched when she felt no senses after doing the spell. Maybe she was doing it wrong - at least that's what happened the last three times already. "I can't do it," she opened her eyes and released a big sigh. "I can't do the spell."

"It's fine, we can just try again," Nicolas assured it was all normal. "You have to focus on what type of sense you're looking for."

"Danger," Hope recited. The word was embedded in her before she could even talk. "I'm looking for danger."

"Yes, so now we just have to keep practicing until we can get it right."

"How long did it take you to learn this spell?" Hope wondered while Nicolas started re-setting the herbs for another attempt. "When you were a kid?"

"Um, well...aunt Freya taught me, but I had to learn pretty fast," Nicolas barely gave a smile. Hope knew very little about their aunt Dahlia except that the woman had stolen Nicolas from a village and made him age when he was around seven to an adult all in one year so that she could cast a spell on him that would put him to sleep and gather more power. Hope learned fast that Nicolas didn't really like talking about aunt Dahlia - she just wasn't a good person.

"I can get it," Hope assured, like if Nicolas was getting impatient.

The older Mikaelson smiled at her. "I know you can, Hope. Let's just try again. The herbs will help you relax," he once again pushed the bowl to her. "Just say the words after me and focus really hard, okay?"

She nodded fast. "Okay!" she took the herbs into her hands and took in a relaxing breath. When Nicolas began to chant the words of their spell, she dutifully repeated them with closed eyes. She focused on the downstairs party, wondering which of the guests weren't really good people. She didn't want anyone to hurt her family.

Her breath she took was suddenly released when a new feeling crashed over her. It was a dark, malevolent creepy feeling she felt the urge to shake off. But, this was what the sensory spell did. It made you sense if there was danger and it was lurking nearby. "There's bad people in the house," she whispered.

~ 0 ~

Hayley and Freya settled themselves on the ground of a creaky, old house. It was the same house where once upon a time Hayley had lived in with her parents. It was strange to be inside the building and yet not remember anything. Still, Freya did warn that when she conducted the spell of Hayley's parents' death, memories would start to resurface.

Hayley was prepared, as much as she could be. This was for Hope, she kept telling herself. It would get them a step closer to figuring out what the Hollow wanted from their family.

"You ready?" Freya asked her after finishing up the ingredients for her spell. Hayley gave a weak nod. "Ostende det siste. Ostende det siste. Ostende det siste. Ostende det siste. Ostende det siste. Ostende det siste. [echoing]: Ostende det siste."

Hayley shut her eyes when images started running through her mind. There were her parents, cradling her by her crib, and then suddenly she was in the crib and her father was arguing with another man. The man slit Hayley's father's throat. Hayley's mother ran to help her husband but it ended with her death as well.

Just before Hayley's father died, however, he dropped a key in-between two floor boards.

With a deep gasp, Hayley shot up from the floor and ran to the spot where her father had died. She smashed her hand through the floor and retrieved the dusty key inside. Something dangled from it, and when Hayley turned it over she found the location of a storage place written over it.

~ 0 ~

"Would you care for a drink?"

Maleny tore her gaze from the dancing to find a young man, probably in his early twenties, holding out a glass of champagne for her. He wore a sharp blue suit with a starking red tie. It was a bit much for a millennial but Maleny had seen all sorts of things before.

"Uuh, no thank you. I'm just waiting for someone," Maleny attempted to keep her eyes on the dancing but the man was persistent.

"It's only one glass and I promise I am not trying to get you drunk or anything," he held the glass to her again and, with not many choices, she ended up taking it.

"Thank you," she gave a clink to his glass then took a small sip.

"I'm Luka," he held his hand out to her, flashing a big, pearly white smile.

 _Charming_ , Maleny admitted. She shook his hand and introduced herself next. "Maleny."

"Are you from the Quarter?"

"Um, you can say that," Maleny preferred to keep her true origins a secret from a stranger. "Are you from around?"

"Yeah," he gave a nod and took a sip from his champagne. "I'm part of the witches' coven. I don't recall seeing you around up until the Mikaelsons returned." His lingering look on her indicated he assumed she was part of the opposing team.

She cleared her throat and lowered her glass. "I'm not looking for trouble. And I know you don't probably believe that - which is totally justified - but we're really not…"

Luka chuckled and leaned back against the table. "I didn't think you were, but thank you for that clarification."

Maleny gave a little smile in return.

~ 0 ~

"What, young lady, do you think you're doing out here?" Elijah had spotted Hope standing just outside her bedroom. He looked over the girl to Nicolas, his face stern. "Nicolas-"

"I tried, but she says there's…"

"Bad people," Hope finished for her brother. "Uncle Elijah, I learned a new spell and there's danger. There's bad people in the party."

Elijah once again looked to Nicolas for some sort of confirmation. Nicolas nodded with utmost certainty what Hope felt was real. People of the Hollow were definitely lingering in the party.

With a small sigh, Elijah led Hope back into her bedroom. "Thank you so much for alerting us, Hope. Now your father, myself and your aunts are going to make sure these bad people leave."

"Okay," Hope agreed. She was scared of these bad people because she felt a darkness that didn't seem to be getting any quieter.

"Keep her inside the room at all costs," Elijah warned Nicolas as he headed back out. He made his way down the rails until he came to a stop beside Klaus who was overlooking the party scene again. "Your daughter seems to believe there are enemies among our guests."

"Which one?" Klaus mused as he caught a glimpse of Marlenie emerging from the back entrance, her keen eyes narrowing on the guests. The back entrance monitoring must have gotten boring for her.

"Hope performed a spell, and it helped her sense the enemies," Elijah's words pulled Klaus from any sarcasm.

"Vincent is on the hunt again. One of these guests has a connection with...serpents, of some sort. He will find them," Klaus scoured the guests for Vincent again, hoping to find him fast and that Vincent himself would deliver fast. Thankfully, it seemed to be their lucky night.

Vincent had caught his attention and discreetly nodded to a man standing at the edge, flanked by two more men.

"Him. Bloke by the stairs," Klaus said, making Elijah quickly look below.

"Niklaus. Remember the deal we made," Elijah reminded him after Klaus made an attempt to move.

As Klaus turned to the rails again, he spotted Sofya entering the party. This was one person he could not yet decide if she was foe or neutral at best. "Well, you want first crack at our foe, be my guest. I spy a lady in need of accompaniment."

Elijah didn't quite understand him but right now he was setting all his attention on the man Vincent sought out. He made it down the opposite stairs, intending on coming up with a quick excuse to get the man on his own for a while, and started crossing the courtyard. He bumped into Cami who'd purposely been searching for him.

"Vincent said-"

"We know. It's him," Elijah nodded past her. She turned sideways and looked over the man. "Hope said she sensed bad people in the party. It's got to be him."

"People?" Cami repeated. When Elijah nodded and continued to leave, she grabbed onto his wrist and forced him still. "Elijah, she said 'people'?" he nodded again, still not quite understanding what she was getting at. "People as in _plural_. She sensed more than one person."

"Well…" Elijah realized she was right. His eyes cast a suspicious stare at the guests around them. "He's all we have right now…"

"That means there's more snakes out here," Cami murmured. She let go of his wrist and nodded to the targeted man. "You go and talk, and I'll have Vincent keep searching here."

With their agreement, they both split.

~0~

"Sofya Voronova, I presume," Klaus stopped the brunette just at the entrance. Sofya raised her head, her small smile tight and out of sheer courtesy. "I'm so glad the lack of invitation didn't deter you from attending."

"I know Marcel, and he's throwing this little party, isn't he? Where might I find him, by the way?" she didn't hesitate to get straight to the point.

"Oh, alas. He's been detained."

The sarcasm in the air didn't sit well on Sofya. "Funny, he didn't come home last night either."

The set ups were too easy for Klaus. He simply couldn't help himself. "Well, perhaps he's simply avoiding you. You should try not to be so clingy."

Sofya openly glared at him. Even when he offered a polite - yet empty - offer to dance, her eyes couldn't seem to do anything but glare.

And yet, it was all amusing for Klaus. He forgot how easy it was to piss people off with the least bit of effort. "So what is it you like about him, then? His boundless confidence? His boyish charm?"

"All of the above," Sofya barely entertained the sarcasm. She took up his arms and together moved to the dance. "Where is he?" at the first opportunity she got, she welded her arm boring the bracelet with the deadly thorns created by the Hollow.

Klaus' eyes lowered to the bracelet inches from his chin. "Am I supposed to be threatened by that monstrosity on your arm?"

"You should be. Other than Marcel, it's the only thing on this planet that can kill you."

"You're bluffing."

"You think so? The thorns of a rose grown from Marcel's blood and the magic of an ancient spirit that hates you as much as I do. Go ahead, call my bluff. See how that works out."

Well, not in the broad public, thought Klaus. "Maybe I should just kill you."

Sofya's eyebrows raised with amusement. She leaned closer to whisper, "Try it. Even if you manage to put me down, the Hollow's followers will make sure you're dead by the end of night. Elijah, too."

"You have allies. So tell me exactly how much of this cursed rosebush is there?"

"Enough to kill you and your whole family ten times over. So... do you want to give me Marcel, or should my friends and I end the Mikaelsons once and for all?"

The dance became overly tersed.

~0~

"Maleny? Mal!" Cami called upon the blonde who was in deep conversation with Luka.

Maleny excused herself only for a second to speak with Cami. "What? Did Vincent find someone yet?"

"Yes, Elijah is talking with him right now, but that's not what I wanted to talk about," Cami nodded to the dancefloor. "See that woman Klaus is dancing with?"

Maleny looked on to the dancefloor and crinkled her nose. "She looks far too close for my liking. I told Klaus this Sofya gave me a bad vibe, and it wasn't just because she helped Lucien out years ago." She remembered the warning Sofya had given her when they first arrived. It didn't seem like an empty threat to her even now.

"What the hell is she doing here now?" Cami demanded. Her lips stretched into an almost wince-like manner when Maleny practically growled. Klaus fancily dipped Sofya backwards.

"Word on the street is she got really close to Marcel," Maleny knew Klaus had some plan for Sofya but it didn't mean she liked the view at the moment.

"I'm gonna keep an eye on them," Cami assured Maleny and moved around to get closer to the dance floor, intending on eavesdropping of course.

Meanwhile Maleny returned to her conversation with Luka but despite her best effort to focus on Luka's words, she couldn't stop looking to the dance floor.

"Are you alright?" Luka gave her a gentle prod on her arm, making the blonde snap her head in his direction. "Was I boring?"

"No, not at all!" Maleny exclaimed, flushed with embarrassment. "I was…"

"Looking at the dancefloor," Luka finished for her, pointing to the side. "Do you want to dance?"

"Uh…" Maleny cast another glance on the dancefloor and decided if Klaus could have some fun, then so could she. It was harmless fun, after all. "Okay, sure." Luka took her by the hand and led her towards the dancefloor.

~0~

Elijah's patience was thinning and that was a dangerous thing he hoped Dominic would sense. There they were upstairs, sealed away from the party, trying to discuss the Hollow, but Dominic proved more agile and skilled in the art of distractions.

"Tell me what it wants," Elijah warned this was the last time he would ask.

Dominic had the good sense to start talking, but only because enough time had passed by. "Well, the Hollow has lain dormant for a long time. It needs to feed."

"The poor dear," Elijah mocked. "You know, I understand it has a penchant for innocent children."

"Only as hors d'oeuvres. It prefers the power channeled by the death of someone like you," Dominic gestured to the Original. "Old, ancient, imbued with magic. But it needn't feed on you, your brother or niece or anyone else you care about. Marcel Gerard will do nicely."

Elijah would give the man points for his straight forwardness. "Why would I give you Marcel Gerard?"

"As patriarch, I'm sure you'll make the right decision on your family's behalf. But in the meantime, I'll take Vincent Griffith as a show of good faith," Dominic flashed a smile while Elijah expressed his incredulity. "Marcel was business, but Vincent is personal. He turned his back on the Hollow once, and now it's rather angry."

"Unfortunately, if I betray Vincent the covens will declare war on my family."

"Well, at least with the covens, it's a fight that you have a chance at winning."

"Regardless, my terms are set: Vincent now, Marcel later, and your family will be spared," Dominic was anything but discreet. Elijah knew that Dominic believed him to be at a loss. "What do you say, Elijah? Do we have a deal?"

~0~

Cami felt the presence of the only third generation Mikaelson in the party. Cami tore her gaze from the target to see Marlenie openly glaring ahead.

"Why are my parents dancing with other people?"

"Don't you dare do anything," Cami warned before she said anything else. "That woman is probably after Marcel."

"And for that she has to have her chest up on my Dad?"

"Let's just keep an eye and be ready for anything. Sofya can be lethal."

Marlenie scoffed, crossing her arms. "We'll see."

"What's-"

Marlenie dropped her arms, loudly going "Hell no" when they saw Klaus and Sofya making way towards the hallway. Cami grabbed Marlenie's wrist, forcing her still.

"Let's be smart," the blonde decided and nodded Marlenie to follow.

In the hallway, Klaus had pinned Sofya against the wall, careful to avoid the thorns of her deadly bracelet. "I wonder what will the mighty Hollow do when it finds out you've been making deals with the enemy."

"You're right," Sofya mused, tilting her head briefly before turning the tables and pinned Klaus against the wall. "I should probably just kill you."

"You kill me, you'll never find Marcel," Klaus was happy to remind.

"I'm good at finding what I want."

"No doubt. But even if you do find him, it'll take you an eternity to break the spells that bind him, and that's assuming you don't die by my family's hand first. Of course, if you were willing to strike a bargain…"

Sofya weighed her options, and figured if the house was surrounded by Mikaelsons at every corner, she should take the easiest route. "Fine," she backed off. "Let him go, I let you live."

"But then you'd suffer the wrath of your witch allies. And I would so hate to see you become their next blood sacrifice," Klaus peeled himself off the wall and readjusted his jacket. "Of course... there is another way."

"I'm listening…"

"You hand over your weapon, expose the Hollow's allies, and I'll ensure you leave here... unscathed."

"What about Marcel?"

"I'll release him after the party. He'd overstayed his welcome anyway." Klaus remained still, only motioning Sofya to start spilling the information.

With nothing much, Sofya did. When the woman finally left, Marlenie and Cami emerged into the hallway, one vampire more annoyed than the other.

"How are we sure this is going to work?" Cami was thinking more on the logical side. "Sofya works for the highest bidder-"

"-which means we have to remain the highest bidders," Klaus said with the widest smiles, like all this was an easy won game. And for him, it was.

"And what exactly are we bidding?" asked Marlenie.

"Well, Sofya thinks it's Marcel so I say we should just let her believe that," Klaus tapped her nose.

Marlenie smirked when she got the plan. "We're not giving Marcel up are we?"

"Not tonight. Sofya came in thinking she would best me and we can't very well have that, can we?"

Marlenie shook her head. "Nope!"

"Cami, be a dear and continue being oh-so-diligent of the party," Klaus began to list off some instructions. "And keep a close eye on Mal for me, please? Wouldn't want that guy to get smart." He made a nod to the dancefloor where Maleny and Luka were still dancing.

Marlenie scoffed. "I think you'll be in the doghouse after this, Dad."

"Yes, I think so too," Klaus cleared his throat. Suddenly fighting off his potential murderers was the safest option possible.

~0~

"You're an exceptional dancer," Luka remarked, making Maleny chuckle in response.

"You don't have to try so hard to get on my good side. Or my family's for that matter."

"Believe me, everyone wants to stay on your family's good side," Luka chuckled himself. His eyes seemed to roam over Maleny's head. "Although it seems like I'm already in your family's eyes."

"Hm?" Maleny managed to see Cami directly staring at them after they turned in their dance. "Oh, that's just my cousin. Don't worry about her. I'm sure you know what it's like having your family members think you need protecting from everything." She knew Cami was definitely listening in and hoped she would get a clue to leave them alone.

"Actually, I don't," Luka admitted, confusing Maleny for a second until he elaborated, "I grew up in the foster care system. My family was killed in an accident."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Maleny honestly said. "I...I lost my biological family when I was a kid, so...believe it or not, I also know the feeling of solitude."

"Well, it looks like you found yourself a new family," Luka smiled at her.

"As did you with the witches," Maleny countered. "But I have to say, the Quarter witches are not the nicest lot."

"You say that because your family has been their number one enemy for the longest of times," Luka chuckled but Maleny did not.

"My issues with the Quarter witches began far earlier than the Mikaelsons, trust me," she spoke earnestly now. "You seem like a nice young man and...let's just say, collateral damage is no issue for these supernatural wars. Don't become one of them."

"I don't plan to," Luka's smile was big and honest.

~0~

Two men idly stood beside the compound waiting for a promised signal when, all of a sudden, they found themselves by the throat and pinned against the wall.

"Hello boys," Marlenie gave her best smile.

"Gentlemen," Klaus soon came out with Vincent at his side. "I see you've met my daughter. She needs to work a little on her manners-" Marlenie shot him a sarcastic smile, "-but that's a story for another day. Sofya says you've come to kill me."

"Your leader gave you up," Marlenie almost laughed at the men as she let them drop to the ground.

As soon as they raised their heads, each men shot up to take down the two vampires. Marlenie and Klaus each easily flipped them over. Vincent then took over by slamming both men to the wall with a spell.

"It's a good thing one isn't judged by the competence of one's enemies. I'd be rather insulted," Klaus remarked, eliciting a small laugh from his daughter.

"I was you, once," Vincent approached the two men. "Thought the Hollow was gonna give me all sorts of power. And it ended up taking away everything that I've ever loved. It took away my family, took away my wife. It left me with absolutely nothing. Now, I hate vampires. I hate Klaus Mikaelson more than any of them. And I'm willing... to stand beside him against that thing that you call your master. Now, that right there should show you just how bad your master actually is." He let the spell go after Marlenie had swiped their stakes wrapped in the deadly thorn vines of the Hollow.

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment," Klaus first told Vincent with a smug smile then moved up to the two men. "Gentlemen... I ought to flay the skin from your bones. But these are uncommon times, are they not? And they call for uncommon mercies. You and your brethren have a choice. Forsake the Hollow or die by its side. Either way is fine with me." He left the choice as free as possible, confident with his triumph for the night.

~0~

Maleny's laugh filled the air when Luka handed her another champagne. "Thanks," she took a sip from the glass and turned back to the party. She lost track of Cami somewhere along the dance, just like Klaus and Sofya.

"So you and your family plan on staying in the Quarter from here on out?" Luka inquired, eyeing Maleny's left hand curled around her glass. "For a wedding?"

Maleny followed his gaze to her hand and sheepishly smiled. "We're not sure. Perhaps just a-" but she was cut off by the rowdy noise upstairs.

Elijah's form appeared upstairs as he unceremoniously slammed Dominic's body against the railing. The music stopped and the guests, including Maleny, Cami and Freya, gazed up. Dominic's face was bloody from a previous injury. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have here an errand boy of the Hollow." Elijah made sure he heard bones crack as he further pressed Dominic's neck against the rail. "A disciple of the very darkness that threatens to devour our city, your loved ones and mine. Now, whether or not you despise us, my family will do everything in its power-" Elijah dangled Dominic's body over the air, making the guests underneath quickly scurry out of the side, "-to remove this scourge from New Orleans. I recommend you do the same...else." He released his grip on Dominic's neck and let the man drop to the ground.

The party ended after that.

~0~

Sofya got up from the public bench she was waiting on when she saw Klaus coming towards her. "Where is he?" she demanded, casting suspicious looks around them in case that daughter would pop up somewhere.

"You have quite the one-track mind. It's unexpectedly useful. I may just keep you around," Klaus had the sense to joke with her.

"We had a deal. I basically handed you those weapons," Sofya reminded him, boldly facing him. "Now, where is he?"

"He's tucked away, safe and sound, at least until we've dealt with the Hollow," Klaus saw the realization strike at her face, her eyes glossing up. "Tell me, do you hate me on general principle? Or was it something I said?"

Sofya would love nothing more than to wipe away his smirk. And yet, she couldn't hide her true reasons anymore. She wanted him to know why she was going to be coming back for him, because this was nowhere near over. "Years ago... a Russian village named Kalach. A nice summer day. Big, happy family. Outdoor wedding feast. Ring any bells?" Klaus remained completely blank, only furthering her fury. "I'd gone off to get more wine. I returned to see you feeding on my sister. The wedding party, my entire family... all dead. I hid and watched what you did."

"Well, I'm terribly sorry, of course. Still, I am glad I confiscated all your weapons, what with you being so hell-bent on revenge and all," Klaus smirked at her.

"Careful not to overplay your hand, Klaus. I've hated you a lot longer than I've known Marcel," Sofya warned. "And the Hollow isn't finished with your family either. It's gathered up some particularly angry enemies you made years ago and now...they're coming back."

Her words did manage to land a heavy weight over Klaus' shoulders.

~0~

"That was a hell of a show you put on tonight, Elijah," Cami's shoes stepped just beside the pool of Dominic's dried blood on the ground. "I thought that the whole point of this party was not to have bloodshed?"

"Those _were_ the rumors," Maleny hummed in agreement by the only remaining high bar table from the party.

Elijah was already under fire from Vincent and soon to be Klaus as well when he returned. He didn't exactly want to Cami in this too. "Just tell me Klaus and Marlenie retrieved all of the weapons?"

"Hm," Cami sarcastically went, setting her hands on her hips. Both Elijah and Maleny knew this was about to get worse for the former. "I'm not sure. Let's ask Dominic, shall we? Oh wait, we can't." Look of doom was _set_. "Because Marlenie just finished burning his corpse in a dumpster!"

"Let me handle this, please," Elijah made a motion for her to calm down.

"Exactly how do you plan on handing this tomorrow?" asked Maleny. "And the next day? And the day after that?"

"You are not helping," Elijah directed a finger her way.

"And neither are you by becoming the town executioner," Maleny leaned her arms over the table. He hated that she made a good point. She was about to add on when she saw Klaus returning. "Ah, and there is the attentive host. Please explain to your brother why tonight was an epic fail."

Klaus' face said it all. He didn't see the point of the lecture Elijah gave him in the morning about no bloodshed. "Just tell me what this thing wants so we can kill it."

"It wants to be reborn," Elijah snapped under frustration.

"Wait, maybe that's why there's four areas of chaos," Cami remembered Vincent's maps. When she realized everyone waited on her to explain herself, she quickly retold them what she learned. "This morning, Vincent said that whenever it resurfaces, it does so in four distinct locations. No one can tell why."

"It's looking for something," Hayley came charging in holding a cadaver's lower jaw. "Four things, by the sound of it. And I'm pretty sure that I have one of them. My parents were killed protecting this from one of the Hollow's followers."

"It's trying to gather its remains for a resurrection spell," Maleny straightened off the table and went around to inspect the jaw piece. "You've just found a piece of our enemy, Hayley."

"Lucky me. So, who has the other three?"

"Dominic said that he had found something here," Elijah remembered.

"What? There's just, like, a bag of bones laying around that none of us know about?" Cami settled a rather crazed look on him.

Klaus closed his eyes when he realized what Dominic had been searching for. "Tunde's blade."

They raced to safelock where Elijah had placed the blade in and, to their misfortune, they found it empty.

"We thought we were tricking them but...they just tricked us," Cami inwardly groaned. They thought they had been so smart but in reality, they were just played.

"This thing has followers everywhere. They've infiltrated the entire city," Hayley ran a hand through her hair, the desire to get the hell out of there increasing by the second. "If they get to the other bones before we do…"

Klaus recalled Sofya's promise that the Hollow was coming for them. She knew it all along. "They may well try to raise this monstrosity. And it will come for us all."

That same heavy burden he felt after hearing Sofya now fell over the entire room.

~0~

As soon as the dried blood was taken care of, Hope was allowed to leave her bedroom for one snack before it was off to bed. She was just returning to her room when she heard noises from her dad's room. It was her father, aunt Mal and Nicolas talking. She knew she shouldn't eavesdrop but she really wanted to know what this party was actually for.

She chewed on her poptart as quietly as possible and tiptoed to the open bedroom.

"So there are three other objects we need to find now?" Nicolas was listening to his mother explain what they'd recently learned from the party.

Maleny agreed it was a new hassle. Before she said anything else, Klaus gave her a nudge on the side then looked over his shoulder. "Hope, I think we can all agree it is _way_ past your bedtime."

Hope closed her eyes upon remembering the super hearing. It was amazing how she always managed to forget that when she was around her mother, aunt Mal and aunt Cami. With a sigh, she stepped into the room with her hands together. "I'm sorry."

"Anything in particular you wanted to hear?" Nicolas wondered, partially amused by her attempt.

"I just wanted to know more about what was going on," Hope admitted, deciding lying wouldn't get her anywhere. "No one tells me anything."

"That's because it's nothing you should be worrying over," Maleny gave the girl a soft smile. "All you need to worry about is your Mom finding out you're still not asleep."

"We better beat Hayley to it, then," Nicolas raised a finger and moved for his younger sister. "Let's get to bed, munchkin."

Hope agreed because she really didn't want to get into actual trouble. Eavesdropping was wrong, after all. She walked up to Klaus first and gave him a hug - the action still managing to initially startle him - and murmured, "Good night."

"Goodnight," Klaus responded with, hugging her back. He let her go and she moved onto Maleny.

"Goodnight aunt Mal."

"Goodnight sweetheart," Maleny patted the girl's back.

Hope paused just after pulling away from Maleny. Her eyes studied Maleny's hands and suddenly, she felt the need to chant the little spell Nicolas had taught her.

"Hope, what are you doing?" Klaus immediately wanted to know, but since the girl kept murmuring he turned to Nicolas.

"Sensory spell," Nicolas answered, though seemed confused as well.

"Aunt Mal, the bad people were around you," Hope looked up at the blonde woman.

Maleny, though taken aback, merely smiled. "Yes, well, I had to talk to them but it's all fine now. They're gone."

Hope glanced at Klaus, specifically his hands as well, and reached to touch his left hand. "They were around you too, Dad."

"We had to shake hands with a lot of people, Hope. Don't worry," Klaus followed in Maleny's carefree lead.

"Hope, c'mon," Nicolas gently ushered his sister out of the room, giving his parents concerned glances on the way out.

When the door was closed, Maleny set her hands on her hips and said, "Well, I think it's safe to say Hope is going to learn to use her magic very early."

"Bad people? Could she have meant Dominic?" Klaus eyed her curiously.

"I never even crossed a glance with him," Maleny said, her face going flat when she added, "Though maybe it could've been that over-exposing supermodel you seemed to spend all your night with. Hm..." she pretended to think about it, even tapping her finger against her chin.

A smirk easily found its way across Klaus' lips as he stepped closer to her. "Or maybe that stranger you were dancing with all night?"

"I wasn't the one who had some stranger pressed up against me," Maleny had the answer for everything it appeared. She crossed her arms and gave a slow shake of her head. "You know, if I were the jealous type you'd be sleeping downstairs." She turned away, purposely letting her hair whip in his face.

"As long as you're not the jealous type," Klaus mumbled and cleared his throat when she shot him a glare through her new vanity mirror. He chuckled and came up behind her chair, lowering himself to kiss her shoulder. "But we both know it was pure professionalism. Business, that was all."

"I know it was," she waved him off so she could start taking her jewelry off. The dress, while pretty, was a bit of a hassle after a while. "Just doesn't mean I like to see it. Especially when we didn't even dance _once_."

"Now I'm terribly sorry about that," Klaus set his hands on her shoulders, slowly moving them down her arms. "Business got away from us."

"Don't worry," she genuinely smiled at him. She got up from the vanity chair and turned around. "We have priorities and they shouldn't be compromised by anything. I want our family to be safe, above all." And she meant that with all her heart. It had been far too long since they were all together again and she wanted nothing to rip them apart again.

"Still, I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea about my priorities," he took her by the hand and led her to the balcony doors. He opened them up and walked her out to see the Quarter, still in its customary lighted manner despite the hour.

Maleny loved the greeting of the cold wind refreshing them after such a horrific night. She smiled as she felt Klaus behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist/ "I missed you," her words had come out automatically, but she didn't regret them. She missed moments like these when it was just them, looking out at the Quarter they both loved despite the danger that came with it. All the days and nights in the compound were something she would think about when she was on her own searching for the cures.

"I'm not going anywhere, love," Klaus promised her. He set a kiss on the side of her neck and smirked at her soft hum.

"Good, because I don't think I could ever take that again," Maleny admitted. She tilted her head upwards a bit to meet his gaze. "I love you."

"I love you too," Klaus responded with the same level of sincerity Maleny used. He kept her wrapped in his arms and gently swayed them while they both overlooked the Quarter.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

The party episode was one of my favorite episodes not going to lie xD. So I finally finished this story and now I'm moving onto the next (and final story I guess) story. It makes me so emotional just thinking about saying goodbye to Mal :'/

 **For the review:**

 **Adela** : Thanks! Hope you liked the new chapter too! :)


	7. A Rogue Coven

_'The life that I have_

 _Is all that I have_

 _And the life that I have_

 _Is yours.'_

 _'The love that I have_

 _Of the life that I have_

 _Is yours and yours and yours.'_

 _'A sleep I shall have_

 _A rest I shall have_

 _Yet death will be but a pause.'_

 _'For the peace of my years_

 _In the long green grass_

 _Will be yours and yours and yours.'_

"Now that is a beautiful poem," Cami's smile was from ear to ear after listening to Elijah. She lazily dipped her spoon into the ice cream she had on the table. "I forgot your way with words..."

Elijah matched her smile, although seemed more sheepish about it which made Cami laugh. "I thought it would be a nice poem to describe you...us..."

Cami pointed her spoon at him, squinting her eyes for dramatic effect. "We continue with the charm, Mr. Mikaelson. Maleny's warned me about this trait you know."

"She would know," Elijah smirked. "But in all seriousness, this is the poem about _us_. I can think of nothing better than it."

Cami nodded, replaying the poem in her mind. The words really were beautiful, and she could see a meaning that encumbered them both. Despite their troubles at the moment, they had a life ahead of them. Everything that was hers, would be his and vice versa.

She couldn't wait, honestly.

"Scuse me," a young girl stopped by the vampires' table, holding four flyers for them to take. Cami took the flyer and watched the girl move on to other tables, handing out more flyers to other customers.

"What is it?" Elijah asked as he picked up his glass of coffee.

Cami's eyes moved along the flyers as she read. "Missing girls," she made a face. "The same ones we saw on the way here."

"Yes," Elijah's eyes flickered to the streets where he could see the same flyers posted on street poles. "Isn't it odd how there are four girls missing? Four..." his fingers drummed along the table, repeating the same number over and over.

"What are you saying?" Cami raised an eyebrow at him.

"Four girls were taken by the Hollow..."

"Yeah, but there's been no chaos left in the paths of the disappearances," Cami noted. The missing girls had been a quiet dilemma with no evidence of foul play left behind.

"Still, when have we ever been this lucky with coincidences?" Elijah's question rang an unfortunate truth.

Cami put down her spoon and sighed. "We should go see Vincent. He might be able to tell us something."

~ 0 ~

"O-positive?" Maleny crinkled her nose after watching Klaus squeeze the last drop of blood from a blood bag into a glass. She sat on the edge of the table and prepared to watch Klaus _not_ take the blood. She knew he hated it.

"New rules. No blood shed in the house where my youngest daughter sleeps and plays," Klaus relayed, not that it was news for anyone. He attempted to take a sip of blood but the scent filled his nose and he almost gagged. He put the glass down and faced Maleny's smirk-ful face. "Perhaps I'll go out for breakfast. May I invite you?"

"That's sweet, I think," Maleny looked to the side to think it out. "But Freya just called and you, my love, are under house arrest." Klaus pointed to himself, feigning a surprised expression. "That's right, you," Maleny hopped off the table and inched closer to him. "And Hope, and Hayley. And Marlenie. She's having trouble adjusting with our new problems."

"I've noticed," Klaus mused over their problematic daughter. Marlenie was proving to be a Mikaelson with an extra fire that no one was able to handle.

"Maybe you could help her out, talk to her…?"

"And here I was thinking we could take advantage of our forced time in the building," Klaus walked her up to the table, not too thrilled about the arrangements.

"That...sounds appealing…" Maleny swayed her head to his charming smile.

"I thought it would," Klaus leaned down to kiss her but the sound of a phone vibrating cut that short.

"It's mine," Maleny reached inside her pocket and pulled out her phone. There was a text waiting to be read. "It's from Nick. He wants to see me at the cathedral. Looks like our time together must be cut short for the morning," she smirked at the hybrid. "Spend some time with your daughters. May I suggest drawing?"

Klaus rolled his eyes. "Fine. Go ahead and leave me...what else is there to do?"

His dramatics made her laugh. "You're too amusing sometimes. I'll be back later so we can...pick up where we left off?"

"I am holding you to that," he warned her, his sarcasm a cover for their actual shortened time. It seemed like despite him being back, there was never a moment to spend together.

~0~

Nicolas walked into the St. Ann's just at the same time Elijah and Cami crossed the parking lot. Nicolas went directly up to them and began to notice Cami holding familiar flyers in her hand. They were the same ones he was holding too.

"Are those the missing children flyers?" he and Cami simultaneously asked, pointing at each other's flyers.

"We found these all over the street," Cami then said.

"So did I, right before aunt Freya and I saw Dominic up and breathing across the street," Nicolas sourly said, rolling up the flyers for a moment.

"She put up a boundary spell on the compound so for the time being we're locked out," Elijah warned him. "But I suppose you already knew that and were doing what exactly?"

"I wanted to talk to Vincent," Nicolas explained himself. "These girls that went missing...it was four of them."

"Just like the Hollow's pattern," Cami sighed. "We wanted to speak with Vincent too. Not that he'll be too happy with any of us."

"Yes, he seemed to disagree with my tactic against Dominic," Elijah feigned surprised.

Nicolas settled a sarcastic look on him. "Then you'll have nothing to apologize for since, like I said, Dominic is breathing again."

"Well," Elijah opened up the front door of the church, motioning them inside, "I guess we should go talk to the man, then."

Nicolas and Cami agreed. They had a feeling - in fact they were sure - these missing children were all part of a new tactic the Hollow's followers were using. If it was a new sacrifice they were going to make, it was going to fail.

~0~

Maleny walked into the cathedral expecting to find her son but instead came to see Luka at the corner. Immediately, she stopped and stepped back. "Where's my son?" she didn't wait for the answer to come out on its own. She sped Luka against the wall, hand clutching his neck. "What did you do to my son!?"

Luka struggled to answer in one go due to the lack of oxygen. "H-he's not...here-"

" _Where_ is he?" Maleny gave him a shove against the wall.

"He was never...here!" Luka clapped a hand over one of hers around his neck. "I-I called you!"

"What for!?"

"I need your help!"

Surprised, Maleny let him go and stepped back. She cast a look around the room, sensing no one else but them were there. "What do you want?"

Luka coughed as his lungs took in oxygen. He gave Maleny a nod to the table, forcing her to turn and see something lined up for her.

~0~

' _A man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds. And when the weeds begin to crawl, it's like a bird upon the wall. And when the bird away does fly, it's like an eagle in the sky. And when the sky begins to roar, it's like a lion at the door. And when the door begins to crack it's like a stick across your back. And when your back begins to smart, it's like a knife inside your heart. And when your heart begins to bleed, you're dead and dead and dead indeed.'_

"Shouldn't you be reading, I don't know, what's it called? One of those books on the three bears?" Marlenie stopped tearing through clothes to pause and think.

Hope, who sat on the floor beside a trunk, looked up from the book she'd found with a scrunched face. "Do you mean Goldilocks and the Three Bears?"

Marlenie briefly looked to the side. She was unfamiliar with today's children's books so she supposed Hope was right. "Sure, that one."

"It's just a book of old rhymes," Hope said, casually shrugging her shoulders.

But her answer didn't work on her sister, and much less on their father. After unsuccessfully trying to demolish the jawbone Hayley found, Klaus gave up on it and went in search for his two - unusually quiet - daughters. "That's not exactly the most uplifting reading material," he stopped beside Hope, taking the dusty book from her. He hadn't seen it in a long time. "Certainly not the most appropriate."

"I tried to tell her," Marlenie ripped apart a long golden dress and settled both halves in front of her on a table. "But she has your stubborn gene, Dad."

"I do not!" Hope frowned.

Klaus playfully rolled his eyes. "Alright. You know, Hope, I'd rather you didn't play here, actually. All the splinters and the dust... and the bats."

Hope tilted her head, a playful smile spreading across her face. "There aren't any bats."

"I've seen no evidence that your Uncle Elijah doesn't sleep here, hanging upside down."

Marlenie laughed from her spot. "I'm so telling."

Hope smiled too and glanced back at the trunk. "Dad...was there a little boy who used to live here?"

Klaus only briefly laid eyes on the trunk. He would rather not revisit those times. "Come along, sweetheart. We can discuss ancient history another time." He held out his hand for her, but before Hope took it she grabbed a small soldier figurine.

"Yes!" Marlenie cheered after pulling out a silver gemstone from the same yellow dress she'd ten minutes ago. It was unbroken.

"What are you doing?" Klaus stopped behind her, scrutinizing the ton pieces of clothing long over the table. "Correct me if I'm wrong - which I never am-" Marlenie rolled her eyes, "-but aren't those the clothes you had Elijah and Cami bring to you this morning?"

Marlenie glanced over her shoulder after nodding. "Of course."

"Why are you ripping them?" asked Hope.

"Because I'm going to create new things out of them. I figure since we're trapped I might as well come up with a new line for the winter. Plus, it's my ritual before designing something really important."

"You can't do that...can she?" Hope looked up at Klaus, fairly curious.

Marlenie whirled around, hands on hips. "The 90s? That was all me. And where do you think ripped jeans came from? I'm your girl."

"Well take all your necessities out of here," Klaus pointed to the door. "Hope's not allowed here and neither are you."

Marlenie rolled her eyes. Unlike her younger sister, Marlenie concluded ages ago this had been Marcel's room centuries ago. She supposed now it was full of bittersweet memories. "Fine. But I get the downstairs living room all to myself. I'm taking it upon myself to design Mum the _best_ wedding dress and you aren't allowed to see it," Marlenie gestured to the torn pieces of clothing behind her. "This is gonna get my juices flowing for the real thing. You can't see it."

"She's right, Dad. You can't see anything about aunt Mal's wedding dress," Hope agreed, letting go of Klaus' hand to go stand beside her sister. She looked up to Marlenie with a determined nod. "I'll stand watch at the doors in case he tries to peek."

Klaus raised his hands as a sign of good faith. He chuckled at the two and vowed he would not dare to peek at any potential designs for a wedding dress. Besides, before either girl could get to him, he was sure Maleny would kill him first.

~0~

Maleny stared at four different missing child flyers Luka had spread out on the table for her. Unknown to her, they were the same flyers her son, Cami and Elijah were discussing with Vincent at the same time.

"Danielle Meadows, age 16. Missing Monday," Maleny looked at the profile of a blonde teenager then moved onto the next. "Odette Coleman, age sixteen. Missing since Monday." She lowered that flyer and glanced at the last two. "Ela Juleka, age 16. Missing since Tuesday. Sofia Mulvoy, age 16. Missing since Tuesday. All these girls went missing in two days?"

"Yeah, it's almost as if…" Luka trailed off, allowing Maleny to see for herself.

"Someone deliberately picked these girls for something. And in this city, it's always for a bad something," Maleny gripped the edge of the table, leaning forwards while she reviewed the cases. "I have to be honest with you, Luka. I don't think I'm the right woman for this job."

"But you are," Luka assured, lightly smiling. "I heard how you and your friends tracked down each of the seven werewolf bloodlines to create the cures for the Mikaelsons."

"But that was teamwork. And completely different." Maleny gathered up the flyers in a neat pile. "You're a witch, why not ask one of your people to help?"

"My people are divided between those who serve the Hollow and those who don't," Luka said quite seriously.

"Fair point."

"And as I have said before, out of every Mikaelson I trust you."

"Thank you for that, but…" Maleny was apprehensive, that much was obvious.

Luka went around the table, purposely pushing the flyers closer to her. "You have children, right?"

"Impossibly, but yeah-"

"-you must know what it feels like to miss them. And also, it's because you're the impossible-"

"Technically, that's their father-"

"-you're special too, Maleny." Maleny paused, her eyes mildly squinting in suspicion. Luka realized it and quickly ventured to add on, "Your entire story is special, I meant." But this did not exactly help in his favor.

"How do you know about my story?"

"Uh, well, you've gotten pretty famous since you tied up with the Mikaelsons," Luka slowly explained, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. "If one wants to know about the family, it includes you too. And really, a woman who's died a thousand times and come back each time is quite interesting. Do you know all the magic it implies?"

"Magic? What?"

"Nothing," Luka quickly said and did a quick move on to the next subject.

"Not from my end it's not," Maleny assured. She glanced at the flyers again. "So what exactly can I do here?"

Luka smiled.

~0~

Vincent was having a hard enough time ransacking through his own possessions when he heard a set of three footsteps coming down the church aisle. He took one look over his shoulder to see Nicolas, Cami and Elijah coming towards him and loudly groaned. "Whatveer you want, now is _not_ a good time," he warned them.

"What...happened…?" Cami noticed all the turned over tables in the room along with the scattered objects on the ground.

"Someone broke in," Vincent thought it was clear enough.

"You mean a whole band of them did," Nicolas deduced from all the mess in the room.

"And they took something," Elijah was only paying attention to Vincent's quick-mannered sifting. He could hear the frustration of the warlock as he finished with one box and then moved on to another. "What was stolen, Vincent?"

Because there truly could be nothing worse than this, Vincent decided to share with them. "An important blade used for sacrificial ceremonies."

Cami's gaze dropped to the flyers in her hands and gulped. "Like...the Harvest?" Vincent gave a small nod. "Oh boy. We found these…" Cami walked towards him, holding out the flyers for him to see. "Four girls went missing in the last two days."

"Whoever broke in, broke in this morning," Vincent informed them.

"Someone's trying to do the Harvest and re-establish the link with the Ancestors," Nicolas deeply sighed.

"Which is ideally what we need but...not if someone else is going to do it," Elijah looked around. "Do you have any idea who could have done this, Vincent?"

"No, man," Vincent let his hands wave in the air. "Ain't no one eager to sacrifice their daughters especially when it went so poorly the last time!"

"I read that the Harvest takes preparation so this...this had to have been planned long before we even returned to the Quarter," Nicolas went walking through the mess, eyes trailing the floor for any clue left behind by the culprits. "Someone wants to have the Ancestors back…"

"Talk to your people," Elijah pointed at Vincent. "We cannot allow this to go through. Not if it's not on our terms."

Vincent rolled his eyes. Of course this was the only reason he suddenly had three Mikaelsons all chalked up to help him.

Cami, on the other hand, made a motion for everyone to stay calm. "What we need is to make sure that this ritual does not go through unless we have proof that this would to take down the Hollow."

"I'll go talk to the witches," Vincent said, only agreeing because it was as far as he had gotten so far on the plans.

~ 0 ~

Hayley had the entire upstairs lounge room covered in boxes she'd taken from her parents' storage place. She was intending on getting as much as she could from them, especially since she wasn't going anywhere that day.

"You're hosting a yard sale?" Klaus' voice made her look up from an album she'd been going through.

"I just figured while we're stuck here, I may as well work out which stuff to keep and which to donate," she assured this mess would not last forever. Still, that wasn't exactly what had brought Klaus over, and they both knew it.

"Listen, I found Hope exploring the rubbish in the attic. She's restless."

"She's not restless. She's _bored_. Most kids her age would be at school. They'd have friends to play with."

"Well, once Freya and Nicolas teach her to hone her magic, she'll be powerful beyond measure. She won't need friends. She'll be worshipped."

Hayley playfully rolled her eyes. "She doesn't want to be worshipped. She just wants someone to hold the other end of the jump rope."

"She'll be above such things," insisted Klaus.

"All children need friends, Klaus. Take a look at Marlenie and Nicolas. One had to hide for her entire life and the other literally had their childhood stolen. No offence, but they're not exactly normal people because of it," Hayley delicately reminded him. No one was more upset that the older Mikaelsons never got to experience a normal childhood than their parents.

"Nicolas has grown into a powerful witch and Marlenie into a strong vampire. Hope will one day also acquire enough power to protect herself from anything," Klaus responded with, although still affected from his twins' history. "We won't have to trap her in bloody boundary spells just to keep her safe."

Hayley could agree on that. "Thank you... by the way. I know it's not in your nature to keep violence out of this house."

"Well, we'll protect her innocence for as long as we can. You and I both know the importance of that," Klaus continued in an unusually quiet tone. Because in that, he had also failed Nicolas and Marlenie. No one protected them because no one knew about them. The same could not happen to Hope.

"Are you going to be here a while?" Hayley asked, sensing he was getting lost in those hard thoughts. "Because if you are then you're going to help me go through this stuff."

"Marlenie and Hope did kick me out from downstairs, so…"

"You might find something useful then, start looking!" Hayley pointed him to the nearby boxes, unable to not laugh at the idea of both his daughters kicking him out.

~ 0 ~

"Hey," Maleny walked into the church with Luka at her side, both making a beeline for Nicolas, Cami and Elijah at the aisle. "We got your call and we think we can help."

"Now who might this be?" Elijah steadied a suspicious look-over on Luka.

"He's part of the coven," Maleny got to say before Luka introduced himself.

"I'm Luka, I'm part of the Quarter's coven and we really need your help," the man gazed past them to the mess still covering the floor.

"We think they're starting the Harvest," Cami told Maleny, assuming Maleny was already on her way to make that conclusion. "They stole the sacrificial blade."

"And we've got nothing," Nicolas made sure to remind them all. He was preparing some spell by the looks of the herbs over the only standing table.

"I think we do," Maleny was proud to say. "Luka and I looked into the girls that were missing and get this - all four girls were living with foster families."

"Foster families?" Cami blinked. "There's only one office in the Quarter…?" she looked over to Elijah, making a nod to the doors.

"We can go see the families and see if they even know about the witches," Elijah gestured to Cami to walk ahead.

"And if they don't comply?" asked Luka and received a hard look in response.

"Then we'll compel it out of them. Maleny?" Elijah was pointing back to Nicolas.

The blonde nodded. "We'll tell you what we find out." When Elijah and Cami were gone, she turned to Nicolas and moved up beside him. "And what exactly are you up to?"

"I'm going to try and do a reading on this area," Nicolas explained. "It's sort of what aunt Freya did for Hayley a couple days ago but this should be easier."

"Because there were no violent deaths?"

"Exactly."

"For now," they heard Luka mumble.

"Hey, no one is sacrificing those girls on our watch, alright?" Maleny reassured him but then Nicolas made a noise sounding much like an apology. "Nicolas Mikaelson, is there something you'd like to share?"

"It's just...I get the what the Harvest does and how traumatizing it must be, but…" Nicolas swayed his head, reminding Maleny far too much of Klaus at that moment. "Re-establishing the connection with the Ancestors might be a necessity to defeat the Hollow."

"Are you kidding me?" Maleny hissed. "I was there when they sacrificed Davina Claire the first time and believe me when I say that it was _not_ fun. Need I remind you that I was sacrificed a thousand times?"

"Mum, I get that-" Maleny's eyes hardened on her son, making him re-evaluate his statement, "So maybe I don't get that but I do know what it's like being somebody's lamb. And this Harvest can be good if we can make sure that the sacrifice is done in good faith."

Maleny hated the hard truth. Nicolas saw it and so was able to return to work more calm now that he knew Maleny nor Luka would be stopping him.

~ 0 ~

Like Cami said, there was only one foster care office in the Quarter and as such it was fairly easy to maneuver the humans into giving her and Elijah access to the files of the foster care children.

"These are the girls," Cami set aside the four files they'd gotten from the humans in the place. Danielle Meadows, Odette Coleman, Ela Juleka and Sofia Mulvoy. These are their foster parent names, though."

"And funny enough their parents are humans," Elijah recognized some of the bloodline families as regular old humans from previous centuries. "Which means this ritual isn't exactly happening with the parental approval it requires."

"Do you think that's gonna stop the ritual from working?"

"Not in the slightest."

Cami scrunched her face. "I was afraid you would say that." Before Elijah could say more, Cami heard her phone go off. She fished it out of her pocket and told Elijah it was Vincent reporting back. "Hello? Vincent, did you find anything?"

Vincent indeed had, but it was not good news.

~ 0 ~

"What do you mean the cemetary's _locked_ away?" Maleny's unintended shout was shushed by Nicolas who was in the middle of doing his reading. The blonde hurried down the church aisle away from Nicolas to better speak on the phone. "Cami, what the hell does that even mean?"

~ 0 ~

"Exactly what I just said. Vincent says there's witches keeping out people from the cemetary right now," Cami repeated exactly what Vincent had told her earlier. She leaned over the desk as she once again went over the girls' profiles again while Elijah picked at new files.

~ 0 ~

"Okay, well that's definitely for the Harvest…" Maleny muttered, glancing back at the aisle to see Nicolas finished with the spell.

"Maleny?" Luka walked over to her with Nicolas' words. "Your son says it was witches who broke in. I'm betting it's the same ones who took the girls."

Maleny covered her cellphone a bit to speak to him. "Cami says they're holding the cemetary hostage, basically."

"It's got to be them," Luka nodded. "I'll get a head start there. They must be brainwashed by the Hollow or something."

"You're not going there alone," Maleny stopped him and pointed him to stay in place so she could go back to the phone. "Cami?"

~ 0 ~

"Yeah, um, we'll head to the cemetary too," Cami looked up to see Elijah intently staring at one particular case file. "Vincent's already there so, he'll need some back up." She hung up after that and slipped her phone into her back pocket. "What are you looking at?" she moved on over to see the file for herself.

Elijah looked up with a hardened face. "Would you take a look at who else was in the foster care?" Cami's eyebrows knitted together as he slid over the file to her. She gazed down and immediately recognized the teen from the profile picture. Elijah released a deep sigh, one hand going to his forehead. "I blame myself because we never catch on at the right time."

Cami gave a shake of her head. "Luka Petronilli was part of the foster care system. But...he grew out of it two years ago." Her fingers circled over the paper, eyes searching for the correct name. "If he grew out of it, it means he had to regain his true name, so…"

But Elijah put a hand on her arm the second he sensed they were no longer alone. "Camille…"

The blonde woman's head snapped up, eyes drifting to the side. "I know."

Both turned around and were met with simultaneous aneurysm attacks.

~ 0 ~

"What the hell have you been doing?" Nicolas rushed up to Vincent standing just outside the cemetery entrance.

"Just trying to break down a spell cast by multiple witches, nothing difficult," Vincent sarcastically shrugged his shoulders.

"Where's Cami and Elijah?" Maleny searched for the pair in vain. "They said they were on their way here."

"Well they never showed," Vincent spat. "All that talk of teamwork for nothing, huh? Nothing new there."

"Okay," Nicolas made a hand for him to stop. "We need to get in there. They're probably starting the Harvest right now!"

"Probably," Luka said calmly as he walked up to the entrance. He placed a palm on the invisible barrier and made it ripple.

"It ain't gonna work! They'll just kill those girls!" Vincent shouted in frustration, hoping they were loud enough to reach the idiots inside.

"No, they won't," Luka continued, his eerie calmness attracting the attention of Nicolas. The older warlock's eyes were narrowing on Luka. Luka probably sensed the stare but did nothing about it. He merely turned to Nicolas and Vincent. "They've been waiting for the right time."

"Mum, where exactly did you pick up this guy again?" Nicolas stepped towards Luka, missing the alarmed expression setting across his mother's face.

"It's funny, actually," Luka rubbed his hands together. "She fell for the same trick twice."

" _What_ trick?" Maleny sped up to the man and grabbed him by the neck. "And I'd be careful with your words."

"Maleny, we don't want anything like this," Vincent reminded her. The last thing he needed was bloodshed of a witch on their turf.

"But it doesn't look like he's on the same page, Vincent," Nicolas nodded Vincent up ahead where a couple of people were making their way towards them.

Maleny caught sight of the group too and squeezed Luka's neck. "What the hell is going on?" One of the people from the unknown group thrust her hand forwards, slamming Maleny against the cemetary's invisible barrier. She dropped to the ground and snapped her head up with blazing, angry eyes. "Big mistake!"

"Mum!" Nicolas exclaimed but Maleny had charged towards the man who'd cast the first attack. She easily snapped his neck and started going for the others.

Before Nicolas could move, Luka was back on his feet as well and turned his palms over. Nicolas felt a sharp pain jab at his head, forcing him to his knees. "For a Mikaelson witch, you don't put up much of a fight."

"Hey man, what the hell is all this?" Vincent still kept to his peaceful attempts. Maleny's shout of pain caught his attention - two witches were attempting to pin her down with aneurysms. "Hey, Luka, the Hollow is our enemy, remember? You might be scared but this Harvest isn't going to stop it!"

Luka laughed right at him. It gave Nicolas the perfect chance to retaliate. He waved his hand and shot the same jabbing pain at Luka. "You didn't give me the opportunity to show you what my aunt Dahlia taught me."

Luka fiercely screamed as the pain spread from his head to his toes. It felt like sharp needles were stabbing him all over.

"Nicolas, stop!" Vincent exclaimed, but behind the man Vincent could see Maleny swiping her way through the witches and warlocks. These Mikaelsons were ready for bloodshed at any point.

Maleny had just snapped the neck of the last warlock when she heard a swoosh in the air. She turned and caught a piece of a pole that stabbed her shoulder. She growled and yanked the pole out of her. As she did, however, another pole stabbed her back. "What the-" she whirled around, meeting face-to-face a pale woman's face.

"You're going down," the woman pushed a significant blade through Maleny's stomach.

Her scream forced Nicolas to let Luka go. He saw the tip of Papa Tunde's blade before it disappeared inside his mother's stomach. "MUM!" he ran forwards but the woman who'd stabbed Maleny pinned him against the barrier of the cemetary.

Maleny's body fell to the ground, the blonde only twitching every now and then from the unbearable pain. Vincent made it to her side, only because he wasn't threatening anyone yet. "What the hell!?"

Luka's laughter once again began to fill the air. His bloodied nose only made him appear creepier, nothing like his perfect stranger aura he gave off earlier. "The Harvest is about to begin."

~ 0 ~

Marlenie had been delved into her designs that she never noticed when Hope slipped out of the room. She didn't blame the girl - standing watch wasn't the most exciting job ever. After a couple wedding dress design attempts, Marlenie thought Hope would like to start looking into her flower girl dress design. That would definitely keep the young girl occupied and totally not bored.

Upstairs she could hear Klaus and Hayley going through Hayley's things, bickering and then starting over, but Marlenie was a little concerned when she didn't hear anything from Hope. She quickly rushed to the doors just to check if the barrier was still up and running.

It was.

Marlenie cast a gaze at the courtyard and quickly returned.

~0~

Dominic had seen better days. Freya Mikaelson proved to be more of a hassle than he figured. She had managed to trap him in a protective ring barrier cancellaing out any of his magic and she'd also broken through his personal protection spells.

Freya circled the barrier and kept a good ear for any surprise visitors. She wasn't messing this up. "As I understand it, your overlord needs to collect four of her bones to be reborn. One of which, the Tunde Blade, you stole from my home. Where are the others?"

Dominic smugly smiled. "As long as I'm the only one with the answers, you can't kill me."

Freya took that as a challenge. She flicked her fingers at him and produced an awful pain in Dominic's chest. "Magically induced cardiac arrest. Just short of lethal," Freya informed him to allude his situation. "Where are the bones?"

"I don't know!"

"If you won't give me what I want, then I'll have to take it!" Freya warned. She used her magic to delve into Dominic's mind and was successful in hearing one repeated word. "Apisi. What does it mean? Tell me or I'll just kill you and ask someone else!"

"The Apisi... they were the guardians who protected the bones in ancient times," Dominic struggled to speak in one go after so many attacks. "It means nothing now. I don't have the information you want."

"Well, then, we're done here-"

"Wait! I do know one thing. I know where that Malraux wolf is right now," Dominic almost laughed when Freya froze entirely.

"You're lying," Freya concluded. This was a cold trick, no doubt, but it still scared her to pieces. "You don't know anything about her."

"I know she's important to you. And I know the way you look at her from across a crowded room. I was less than amused by your little boundary spell, so I sent my friends with instructions to kill your wolf friend. They're in the Ninth Ward now. In St. Theodora's Health Clinic. Honestly, she might be dead already. But if you kill me, then you'll never find out where her body is!"

Freya acted before she even realized. She slammed Dominic's body against the wall, freeing him from the spell cancelling boundary. It was all Dominic needed to retaliate. His force of power threw Freya over a table and before she could pick her head up, he came straight for a second attack directed at her heart. Her body convulsed for a couple seconds before stopping.

~0~

"Do it _now_ ," Luka shoved Vincent towards the cemetery altar where the four Harvest girls were already in place, slit at their throats. "And remember your predicament if you try anything."

Vincent glanced over his shoulder to see Nicolas being restrained with heavy magic while Maleny's body was safe guarded somewhere else in the cemetery. He didn't understand why Luka, of all people, wanted to bring the Ancestors back this way. There was malice in the man, along with the other young witches and warlocks around them. They were a different part of the coven, but as much as Vincent thought why he couldn't understand.

"This isn't the way to defeat the Hollow-"

Luka laughed again and pointed the blade at Vincent. "You don't understand. We're not doing this to defeat the Hollow. We're doing it because our family is owed this."

"Man, owed _what_?" Vincent made an attempt to stand up but Luka, along with several others of his cohort, pushed him down with series of spells. "I'm not doing the ritual!"

"That's funny. I don't recall asking," Luka sarcastically shrugged. "If you don't, I will kill that one," he nodded over to Nicolas. "And believe me, you don't even want to know what we have planned for Miss Rowan if things don't go our way."

"The ritual won't work like this!" Vincent shouted, frustrated. "This ritual is supposed to be performed by an elder of the French Quarter. I'm not an elder of the French Quarter. This is not my magic."

"And yet, you were the regent of all nine covens," Luka countered, pacing behind Vincent. "Esther Mikaelson once used you because you possess magic unlike ours. And besides, the Hollow whispered to us how you had been selected many years before us."

"You're part of the Hollow," Vincent began to understand some part. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Whatever it promised you, it's not happening."

"The Hollow will fulfill its word because it is what it wants too," Luka swore. He placed the sacrificial blade over Vincent's shoulder, letting its cool texture touch Vincent's face. "These girls volunteered for the ritual-" he ignored Vincent's wide eyed, stunned reaction, "-and we have the blade, and we have you. And believe me, _our_ Ancestors _will_ accept the offering."

Vincent cast a look to the four girls then back at Luka. Any ancestor who would approve of this sacrifice would have to be part of them, part...of their group? No, _family_. "You're family," he realized.

Luka clapped the blade on Vincent's hand. "START NOW!"

~0~

"Hope, you should not be in here," Marlenie came into the dungeon where sure enough Hope was, just outside the barrier keeping Marcel inside. Her eyes immediately narrowed on Marcel as she moved behind her younger sister. "What did you say to her?"

"Nothing but the truth," Marcel answered quite calmly, only fueling Marlenie's anger more.

"Don't be mad, he's nice," Hope said easily.

Marlenie shook her head behind the girl. "That's lovely, but you need to go back upstairs. It's bedtime."

"Aw," Hope began to whine that it was much too early.

"You don't have to send her away. It's not like I would hurt her," Marcel's words weren't exactly convincing for Marlenie. This only irritated Marcel more. "Think whatever you want about me-"

With a scrunched face, Marlenie interrupted with, "Oh I think a lot of things about you-"

"-I would _never_ hurt her!" Marcel ended up in a frustrated shout.

Marlenie erupted into the same shouts. "Oh, so that's why you kept my Dad down here? So you wouldn't hurt her!" her thumb pointed at Hope.

"That was different-"

"No it was just you getting revenge and tearing my family apart!" Marlenie's eyes shined with tears. "I have never had my family and I won't let anything - _anyone_ \- take them away from me again."

"Marls…" Hope latched her small hand around Marlenie. She didn't want to see her sister break in tears, because that's exactly what it looked like would happen.

Marcel, meanwhile, finally figured out where Marlenie's anger stemmed from. Ironically enough, it wasn't even anger. "You're scared," he voiced his conclusion, and saw an all too familiar denial of a Mikaelson in fear. "This isn't even about me, it's…"

"Be quiet," Marlenie snapped and yanked Hope closer to her. "We need to go," she told her younger sister. The two barely made it halfway when they heard a loud crash upstairs. Marlenie and Marcel honed into the sounds and quickly realized there was some fight going on. Marlenie bent down in front of Hope, hands set on the girl's shoulders. "Stay here and _don't_ go near him," she cautioned slowly with a nod at Marcel. "Don't move!"

Scared, Hope nodded and felt the breeze of her sister speeding away.

~0~

Out in the cemetery, Vincent was finally forced to conduct the Harvest ritual. He could feel the creeping of the Ancestors getting closer - they _were_ accepting the offer. They honestly needed a miracle because at this point Vincent wasn't sure what would be better: let the girls die or bring in some Ancestors for a delirious section of the coven?

A miracle didn't come, but back up did.

The witches holding Nicolas suddenly dropped dead from their necks being snapped. Elijah and Cami stood behind, both a bit ruffled from their own fight.

"What is going on!?" Cami frantically wanted to know. The witches at the foster care office all seemed ready for them like this entire thing was just...planned.

"No time! The Harvest is on its way to being completed!" Nicolas gestured to Vincent.

"We need the Ancestors back," Elijah continued to insist, though they all knew this wasn't the way they'd wanted it to happen.

"But not for them!" Cami gestured to the group of witches remaining alive.

"No," Elijah agreed. He sped off for them and began breaking necks while taking in some pretty painful spell retaliations.

"Cami, find my Mum, please," Nicolas grabbed the blonde by the arms. Cami, wide eyed, barely had time to utter a 'what' when Nicolas turned her away. "Some witches took her! Maybe they're still in the cemetery please!"

"What are you going to do?" Cami glanced at the bloody ritual behind them.

"If the Ancestors are coming back then we have to make sure they're controlled," Nicolas gave a push to the blonde, frantically ordering her to get a move on with that search. He checked to see how the other witches were and, funnily enough, he didn't feel pretty bad Elijah had practically slaughtered them.

 _Good_ , Nicolas ran for Vincent and grabbed the man's shoulder. "Stop it now!"

"It doesn't matter anymore, the Ancestors are returning," Vincent guiltily said, eyes downcast to the Harvest girls that would soon be awakening.

Elijah swiftly picked Luka up by the collars of the man's shirt and effortlessly pinned Luka to the nearest grave plot. "You are far too primitive to have thought of all this on your own."

"I've had two years to think about this, actually," Luka was proud to say. "And I've thought of everything. The Hollow will come, the Ancestors - my family's ancestors - will regain reign over this Quarter."

"The hell they will," Nicolas snapped. He brought Vincent up with some help and turned to Vincent. "The Ancestors - they all can answer to _one_ , right? I read that years ago when I first came."

"Yeah, yeah, make someone a-a gatekeeper…" Vincent trailed off when Nicolas nodded over to one particular grave plot.

Davina Claire would be the solution to their problem.

"Oh man!" Vincent ran first to Davina's grave plaque.

"Uncle Elijah, don't kill him yet!" Nicolas warned his uncle after catching the Original pulling an arm back. "He's clearly got some information we might need later."

Elijah, with a straight face on his nephew, merely smacked Luka against the hard cement of the grave and let the warlock drop to the ground. "He might have a concussion when he wakes up," Elijah adjusted his jacket.

~ 0 ~

Hope spun around with each crash she heard from upstairs, her heart racing with fear that Marcel could hear perfectly. They had heard Hayley's and Marlenie's shrieks before they suddenly went silent. The only one they heard afterwards was Klaus, and by the judge of it he was at a disadvantage.

"I have to go help!" Hope made a run for the gate but Marcel called her back.

"No, wait, Hope. It's not safe!"

"Marcel is in the tunnels. Find him!" Marcel heard the voices of a couple men not too far from where they were now.

"Hope, listen to me, I need you to let me out of the circle!" he bent down to the girl's level.

"I can't. My Dad will be mad!" the girl exclaimed, continuously looking up to the ceiling.

"No, he won't. I'll keep you safe!"

"I can protect myself, my sister, my mom and dad," Hope fought back, rather good for a child. "I'm strong enough to stop the bad guys. I'm stronger than anybody thinks!" she unfastened the small, golden bracelet around her wrist and let it drop to the ground.

"Wait, Hope. I know you're strong, okay? That's how I know you can let me out of here. I need you to trust me right now," Marcel pleaded with her. "Your dad rescued me. He raised me, and I knew your mom when she was a baby. We're family. What does your mommy say about family?"

Hope winced at the sound of a loud thunder clapping. "That we stick together, always and forever."

"That's right," Marcel nodded. He heard the voices of the intruders getting closer and closer. They had but minutes left. "Okay, look at me. Do you trust me?" Hope gave a small nod of her head. "Okay, so c'mon!"

~ 0 ~

Vincent carefully placed the skull of a once young girl, Davina, on the altar table. "I'm not sure if this will work, but-"

"Davina will listen," Nicolas tried not to be so frantic but the fact Cami wasn't returning with his mother was putting him on edge. "She'll want the same as we do."

Vincent sucked in a breath and readied himself. "Then we'll do this together because...I personally don't know what the hell might happen afterwards."

"Yeah, pretty sure she hates me," Nicolas reminded Davina's relationship with the Mikaelsons.

Vincent zoned in on the offering, knowing time was reaching its end. He marked Davina's skull with the same blood of the sacrifice. "Davina, I haven't called out to you in a lot of years. Because you couldn't hear me. But I think you can hear me now. I need your help with the Ancestors. Davina, we need you to help to bring down the Hollow."

There was a sudden strong force of wind that slapped all three men on the face. Nicolas stumbled back a couple steps but knew for sure this was working. The thunder they heard from the sky rumbled with new force, causing the storm to strengthen with harder pelts of water.

Davina's skull began to shake with the same force and suddenly, each of the Harvest girls awoke with a scream.

The spell had worked.

Nicolas stormed past Vincent and Elijah, making a direct beeline for the girls. Before any of the girls could even sense his presence, he flicked both his fingers and knocked the girls out in one go.

"We'll need to take them too," he turned to Vincent and Elijah, his eyes falling over the unconscious Luka near Elijah. "Him first."

Cami sped back to them with quite a terrified face. "She's not here - Maleny is gone."

The spell had worked, but the battle was not over.

~ 0 ~

Freya, despite her own personal problems, had focused on the only valuable information Dominic had given her before attacking her. She only closed her laptop when she felt her eyes incredibly tired - maybe that was also a result of dying and coming back, but who knew. As she did, she saw Klaus coming into the room.

"How's Hope?" she first asked considering the terrible things that had happened in the compound not too long ago.

"Fast asleep, and, according to Hayley, without nightmares since she didn't see anything," Klaus was relieved to know that Marcel had managed to keep Hope away from any traumatizing scenery of vampires.

"That's good," Freya gave a weak smile.

"Yes, apparently they're friends now," and that Klaus didn't know how to feel about. Marcel was a...complicated relationship after all. "But you? I can't imagine what you must have gone through for the boundary spell to go down."

"Oh, you know, just dying and being resuscitated, but who cares," Freya shrugged. There was something else that she was clearly troubled over, but Klaus didn't get the chance to ask about it when she started to share what she learned that day. "Dominic had the name of a werewolf bloodline: Apisi. They were entrusted to be the guardians of a bone, like Hayley's family. I've been tracking the lineage and the last of the modern family died a couple years ago, under dubious circumstances." She turned her computer over, raising its lid for Klaus to see the Lockwood family's obituary for a young…

"Tyler Lockwood. So the bones are in Mystic Falls," Klaus concluded, not too surprised somehow that place would bring them back.

"So there's that," Freya shut her laptop and rubbed her face.

"Something else on your mind, sister?"

Freya lowered her hands from her face and shook her head after seemingly deciding it wasn't important. "Just...some stuff."

"With that woman, I assume?" Klaus almost laughed at his sister's reaction. "Marlenie inherited Rebekah's big blackhole mouth." Freya playfully rolled her eyes. "And Nicolas might have talked a bit once."

"I got distracted today because of her, and they nearly killed you and the others," Freya sighed. "I never thought that could happen, but...it did. And I'm sorry."

Perhaps in another circumstance where Klaus never knew what it was like to have someone like that - to care far more than ever planned - he would've been outraged. "Welcome to _that_ side of life, sister. Don't make the mistake Elijah did."

"What the hell do I do, then? I don't...I don't want to make the same mistake I did tonight, but I...I don't want to push Keelin away either…" Freya was at a loss, and it was even worse because there were no spells to fix it. This wasn't something written down in a book for her to follow instructions. This was...this was too different.

"Make her part of the family," Klaus' simple answer was just that: too simple for Freya to comprehend in the first seconds. "Don't divide yourself. Bring her into the loop and have her help."

" _You're_ saying this?" Freya tilted her head at him, her suspicion making him laugh.

"I need Hope to be safe. If the woman brought you back to life, then she can be trusted," Klaus patted her arm, making a nod to the door in hopes that she would heed the words.

~ 0 ~

Marlenie dumped the last of the bags of corpses into a dumpster and tossed inside a lighter. She took a couple steps back and watched as the entire dumpster lit up in orange flames.

Without looking away, she called out to the man watching her from a distant. "Just because my Dad decided to let you stay free doesn't make us friends. In fact-" she turned around, her hair flipping over her shoulders, "-it doesn't even make us acquaintances."

Marcel stepped out from the shadows with a smile that made her roll her eyes. "We've made a truce. And I would like the same to go between us."

Marlenie scoffed and crossed her arms. "Never. I don't trust you-"

"And I frankly don't trust half of your people," Marcel easily returned. "You might hate me for what locking Klaus up but you forget everything they've done to me before. Not the most mature thing to say but...after centuries, it gets tiring not doing anything. But…" he walked towards her, his smile vanishing as he got more serious, "...I also understand where you're coming from. You're scared and, being the daughter of your father, you hardly admit it. Now on another note, I am really sorry you grew up the way you did. I'm sorry your mother and your brother were taken from you, I'm sorry you had to live alone but right now your family needs all the help it can get. I am not your enemy-"

Marlenie scoffed there, and loudly. "You have the venom to kill my family."

"Which I could have used at any point, don't you think? If I wanted anyone of you dead you would be," Marcel earnestly said. "But that's it, no matter how much I want any of the Mikaelsons dead I can't. Your father raised me, and believe me when I say that I have _tried_ to hate him but I just can't. I can't kill him. That's what you wanted to hear, right? My threat diminishing? You got it." Marlenie seemingly wanted to falter but was fighting ever part of herself not to show it. "I'm sorry you lived without your parents. Really, I am."

Marlenie swallowed hard, her hands dropping to her sides. "Dad once said your father was alive, but...a total jerk?"

"The short story? Yeah," Marcel released a sigh. "And your Dad saved me from him."

"I wish someone could have saved me too," Marlenie whispered, her eyes lowering to the ground. "Maybe then I wouldn't be like this."

In that moment, Marcel saw not the woman who'd been fierce and vicious since her arrival. Without a word of warning, he hugged Marlenie. Perhaps now they could fight on the same side.

~ 0 ~

"What do you mean she's _gone_!?" Klaus couldn't hold back his scream at Nicolas who had been the one to tell Klaus and Hayley the Ancestors' return and Luka's betrayal.

"Mum was stabbed with that Tunde blade and then they took her away while Vincent was forced to do the Harvest ritual!" Nicolas spoke pretty fast considering he only had about a ten seconds before Klaus would shout again.

"SHE CAN'T JUST BE GONE!"

"Klaus, shush!" Hayley pointed a finger up to the second floor, reminding him that Hope was already asleep.

"I _told_ you I should have been out there!" Klaus continued to shout, only mildly less, and this time neither Nicolas nor Hayley knew if he was speaking to himself or still at Nicolas. "The Hollow wants us dead and now some rogue witches have Maleny!"

"Who was this guy, Nick? Luka?" Hayley asked, crossing her arms and keeping a close eye on Klaus. The hybrid was pacing beside them, muttering about murder here and there and revenge.

"We're not sure yet. He was the one who took the girls - at least we're assuming - and he brought the blade."

"So he and Dominic were in league together," Hayley sighed.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!"

"Klaus I swear to God stop shouting!" Hayley snapped. "We're going to find Mal and then we're going to stop these witches."

"We have Luka and the four Harvest girls in our possession, Dad," Nicolas added. "We're going to find Mum."

Klaus only stopped pacing when he felt Cami's and Elijah's presence nearing. Sure enough, the two vampires came rushing in with a file in hand. "And where the hell have you two been?"

Cami went directly up to him and held out the file in hand. "We went back to the Fostercare care office and we found something you need to see."

But Klaus wasn't interested in files. He swatted her hands away. "I don't care-"

"Brother, just take the file and look," Elijah ordered him. He was also a bit shaken, which did manage to persuade Klaus to at least skim the file.

"The hell am I looking for?"

Cami groaned and flipped to the specific page for him. "Luka Petronelli was his foster parent's last name. His _birth_ name was…"

"Luka _Dawson_ ," Klaus read out loud. With wide eyes, he looked up to Cami and then Elijah.

"He was a Dawson," Cami quietly said, her anguish flourishing all over again.

"Dawson? As in…?" Hayley soon began to remember, her mouth falling open.

The only one who didn't seem to understand yet was Nicolas. "What does his name matter?"

Elijah settled a hand over his nephew's shoulder, figuring Klaus was taking a moment to process. "Dawson was the family of witches that cursed Maleny a thousand years ago, subsequently sacrificing her up until we returned to the Quarter years ago. And it seems they've returned."

~ 0 ~

Maleny screamed as a force plunged into her stomach to retrieve the Tunde blade. Her panting was the only sound she could make out for the first couple of seconds before her conscience finally settled. She was on a wooden, broken floor inside a familiar room.

"The abandoned house…" she groaned, putting a hand to her stomach. She got up and tried to leave for the front door but came crashing into an invisible barrier. She rubbed her nose and turned back to go into the back rooms but came to the same barrier. "Who the hell do you think you are to trap me in here?" she shouted.

Her response came in the form of several young witches and warlocks - twenty by the looks of it - emerging from the back rooms.

"I assume you're working for the Hollow?" Maleny crossed her arms, pushing away the jab of pain she still felt around her stomach. "My family's going to find me."

"And we count on it," one of the witches, a young brunette, spoke up. Her lips twitched into a devilish smirk. "Then the Hollow can have her sacrifice. In the meanwhile, we have promised her your body as a temporary Host."

"H-Host?" Maleny dropped her arms. She could see behind the group that a blue light was forming. She remembered what Klaus had told them about the light, the same light that manipulated him and Marcel into fighting.

"You thought you could get rid of us, Maleny Rowan. But your destiny never changed," the brunette witch said as the blue light flew over them, into the barrier.

Maleny backtracked away from the light as much as she could. "No! No!" her back hit the invisible barrier again. "No-"

The Hollow had manifested itself into a figure of a girl, stopping in front of Maleny. "The Ancestors have returned. Even now, their power seeks me out. They would drive me back into their darkness. But I won't let them. You will give me a safe place to hide."

Maleny tried to escape, at least to another part of the barrier, but the Hollow reformed into a black smoke and rushed into Maleny's body.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Uh-oh they got Maleny ._. And what's this? The Dawsons are back? I debated a long time with this specific plot but I ultimately saw it as an interesting idea. Last time we remember, the Dawsons (from the very first story The Girl in the Forest) were meant to be gone... ;)


	8. Hunting Bones

Nicolas and Freya were deep in a spell in the downstairs living room, trying to establish a connection with Maleny in hopes of finding her. It was a little difficult, however, when they could hear every shout from upstairs. Finally, Nicolas released a tired sigh and opened his eyes, meeting Freya's.

Despite the distractions, their spell had still failed.

~0~

"I thought I got rid of them! The entire lot of Dawsons!" Klaus was making yet another pacing round, accompanied with fresh threats for those who had captured Maleny.

Despite this, the others knew it was a facade of his true feelings. The Dawson witches of the Quarter were back, and they wanted what they had always wanted: Maleny. Their ancestors had cursed Maleny a thousand years ago - tricking the innocent girl who'd only wanted to match her lifespan to Klaus' - and had successfully brutally sacrificed Maleny for the course of a thousand years up until the Mikaelsons returned to the Quarter for the first time.

"You got rid of the adults, but you wiped the memories of the children, remember?" Cami hated to be the one to point out the flaw of the long-ago plan. "The Dawson bloodline was decimated only of its adults and elderly. You left the children alive-"

"I KNOW I DID!" Klaus raged, making her flinch at his roar. He was well aware of the mistake he made all those years ago. But, during the time when the Dawsons had tried to sacrifice Maleny and failed was the very moment he had given up Hope to Rebekah. He had given up his daughter, his newborn daughter. He hadn't been able to rid more children at that time. It was...too much. So he didn't. He left the Dawson children alive but compelled them to forget anything about their curse on Maleny and Maleny herself. He made sure of that.

"Brother, we know this is difficult for you-" Elijah said cautiously, still earning himself a rather cold glare from Klaus anyways.

"Why?" began the hybrid with drenching sarcasm. "Because I am the reason the Dawsons returned and now have Maleny captive somewhere? Because they're working with the Hollow?"

"Klaus, it's not your fault," Cami sighed. "Those kids were put into foster care - they were eventually going to age out of it-"

"They weren't supposed to remember anything!" Klaus once again shouted and began to pace. "I compelled each and every single child to forget! It's impossible!"

"The Hollow must have reached out to Luka first," Cami deduced. "And if he was able to get his memories back...then he could undo the compulsion on the others."

"However they managed to remember does not matter. We _will_ find Maleny and we will put the remaining Dawsons to rest-"

"Oh I'm going to do worse!" Klaus promised, intending on correcting his mistake as soon as possible. "When I get my hands on them I'm going to make them-"

Bit his threat was cut short by the appearance of the his two daughters. Marlenie had been tasked - despite her wishes - to keep Hope away from the dungeons this time because that was where they were holding a couple Dawsons for the moment.

"Dad? Is aunt Mal still missing?" Hope was no fool. She hadn't bought the story Marlenie tried to feed her that Maleny was simply on a wedding shopping mission. Aunt Mal would never leave like that.

"She's smart," Marlenie didn't even attempt to keep the excuse going anymore. She was being furious the enemy had snuck up on them like this. All she wanted now was retribution.

"I can help find aunt Mal," Hope walked up to Klaus, who, for her sake, was trying to down his rage.

He bent down in front of and set one hand on her arm. "Thank you, but we're going to find her, don't worry."

Hope didn't look convinced. "But I can help," she insisted. "The voices told me they have a message for you and Mom."

"Voices? What voices?"

"The voices said Mom and I were connected to the Hollow," Hope said, her words adding on more fear in the others. "I know it's the Ancestors. They want to talk to you and Mom. They promise they can help get aunt Mal back and get rid of the Hollow."

Klaus slowly rose to his feet, his gaze meeting the other three in the room. This was... certainly not what they were expecting.

~0~

"So you want the both of us to stay here while Mum is out there God knows where?" Marlenie angrily crossed her arms. She was in actual offence.

"What I think Marls is trying to say in her spectacular way is that we don't really agree with the plan," Nicolas said in a much simpler, calmer way.

Still, neither manner made Klaus reevaluate his plans. He headed down the staircase, intending on meeting up with Hayley at the church to talk with Vincent who was suddenly helping them out of his own accord. "That's alright. It's not like I specifically asked anyways."

"Dad, c'mon!" Marlenie exclaimed. She was right on his heels, almost crashing into him after he got off the stairs. "You don't even know if what Hope said is true! We can't stay here!"

"For the very reason we will be meeting with Vincent. In the meantime, you two will-"

"What? Babysit again?" Marlenie huffed and once more folded her arms.

"Actually, I was going to suggest you visit our local Dawsons downstairs and see if you could get some information on Maleny's whereabouts."

The twins shared a look with each other before simultaneously asking, "Free game?"

"Free game," Klaus was all too happy to agree.

Marlenie smirked. "Now you're talking my language."

"Technically, you're talking _my_ language, sweetheart. _I_ invented it."

"Dad, about the Dawsons…" Nicolas began, "The ones that haven't had your compulsion undone...we need to move them. Relocate them before anymore freed Dawsons can reach them."

"Or we can just kill them," Marlenie easily offered the alternative.

Nicolas shot his sister a sideways glance. "You're comfortable killing a ten year old? A twelve year old?" Marlenie sighed, getting the point he was making. Nicolas thanked for that easy win and addressed his father again. "I get why you compelled the kids, Dad. Marls and I would never blame you for this, alright?"

Klaus took Nicolas' words with its honest intention, but it still didn't make him feel necessarily better. "Keep your sister away from the dungeons," he said as he began to part.

"Don't worry, we'll soundproof it," Marlenie promised with a familiar darkness swirling in her eyes.

~0~

After Marcel had sent his vampire crew to continue searching for the Hollow's bones, he received a surprised visit by Elijah. "The hell are you doing here?"

Elijah nonetheless made his way into the penthouse, eyeing Sofya with mild weariness. "We need to talk. If you wouldn't mind."

Sofya gave a small nod and went into the next room. However, she kept her ears open for useful information.

"I need your help," Elijah came up with in one go. "I am meeting an expert shortly. He'll be coming by way of Mystic Falls, carrying one of the bones and the means to find another. Between the three of us, we should have those remains by sundown."

Marcel scoffed. "Why should I trust you? For that matter, why would you trust me?"

"I don't. But why should we let old grievances hinder our common goal?" Marcel looked like he had a lot to say, so for that Elijah added on, "Here's a proposal. You come with me, I surrender the only weapon that can take your life." Elijah bared the enchanted sword that Freya had forged to kill Marcel.

That was an interest that piqued Marcel.

Meanwhile, Sofya had listened perfectly to send the alert to her other cohorts.

~0~

"Where the hell is Vincent?" Klaus' impatient voice filled the empty room of the church. Hayley was beside him, actively looking about for any sign of the witches. "If I didn't know any better this was just all a trap. And actually…"

Hayley didn't let him finish. "We don't know that-"

"New Orleans witches have hated my family for three centuries. Of course it can be a trap," Klaus didn't feel like he needed to explain the reasons why they shouldn't be so trusting in the witches but perhaps Hayley needed a quick reminder.

"The coven protects their own. Hope's one of them now. She's part of their legacy," Hayley tried to appeal to his logical side...in vain.

"Hope is a far cry from a French Quarter fortune-teller. And while we're on the subject, she's _seven_ ," he enunciated Hope's age slowly in case Hayley also forgot that detail. "If anyone wants to talk to her, they should ask my permission."

"You're gonna be a lot of fun when she starts dating."

"I'm gonna be a perfect gentleman. And should any of her suitors fail to meet my expectations, I'll compel them to the priesthood."

Hayley rolled her eyes. "I would love to see how that would go with Marlenie."

Eventually, Vincent arrived with several supplies in his arms. He confirmed that the Ancestors were indeed calling out to Hope in order to get them to the church. "I'm going to send you two to the ancestral plane so you can talk with them."

"Can we actually do that?" Hayley watched Vincent draw a magical circle on the floor. "We're not witches."

"I know, that's why I'll need your blood."

"That's funny, I didn't hear you say please," Klaus had the good sense to joke.

"You're both bound by blood to a New Orleans witch. I can use the link to your child to cast a spell and link you to an audience with the dead," Vincent moved over to a table where the rest of his supplies were. He picked up a blade and held it out to them.

Hayley grabbed it first and as such slit her palm. Her blood fell into a chalice Vincent was holding underneath her hands. Afterwards, Klaus was to perform the same action.

"Now I don't know who is calling you, not why they would pick specifically _you_ …" Vincent's eyes briefly lingered on Klaus before looking to Hayley, "But listen to them. Whatever we can get from them can be useful."

The two hybrids moved into the circle with Vincent's instructions. He casted the spell - that turned out to be rather painful - and before they knew it, they had entered the ancestral plane. They remained in the church, bathed in a dark blue light.

"So are we to wander around this dreary purgatory in search of lost souls?" Klaus said after deducing they were once again alone. To answer his question, the front doors of the church burst open to let in a cloaked figure.

"I wasn't sure you were gonna show up," the figure spoke in an oddly familiar voice.

"Well, I'm full of surprises. I hope you intend to make our trip worth the effort."

"As a matter of fact, I do," the figure raised their hands to their hood and pulled it down, revealing to be Davina Claire. "And you are gonna listen to every single word I have to say, because right now, I'm the only thing standing between you and the Hollow."

~0~

Sofya entered the the abandoned house playing headquarters for the Hollow followers. Upon entering the first thing she heard were the indistinct quiet chants of witches' spells. As she walked into the living room, she spotted several young witches in a circle on the ground, presumed to be performing a spell.

"Where is Luka?" she demanded from the group, deeming these petty youngsters as simple runts.

"I imagine trapped by the Mikaelsons," answered someone, but Sofya realized no one in the group had broken from their chants. Sofya's gaze landed on a figure ahead of her, immediately recognized as Maleny. However this time, the blonde woman had an eerie aura around her, a dark malice across her facial features.

She was speaking to the Hollow.

Sofya took one step back for good measure.

Maleny's eyes glowed a bright blue, none of which were from her own blue eye color. This was a magic blue. She walked several steps forwards, only briefly glancing at the group of witches. "Poor things want to desperately find their leader. They are free to do so - after all, once I'm done with this body they'll have their sacrifice again."

"If Luka and the Harvest girls are indeed being held by the Mikaelsons, then I have a pretty good idea where they could be," Sofya said fast in case the Hollow started getting ideas about who was useful and who wasn't. "I can retrieve them."

This seemed to pass through the Hollow. "Do as you want, I simply don't care. I only have one mission today and that is to retrieve the four bones I need to return."

"I know where that is too," Sofya was proud to say and was even more proud when the Hollow paused and stared. She had gotten the attention. "I sent the text to Luka but I guess he never got it. I overheard there was an expert coming to hand over one bone to the Mikaelsons. If you want, I can take you-" but she stopped when the Hollow raised a hand at her.

"I do not require help from any of you," Maleny's voice was hard and final. "Help the witches if you like. I'm going to make sure my re-entrance happens today." She nodded Sofya to the side and when the vampire stepped to her left, Maleny strode out. Sofya wasn't sure if it was in her mind, but she was sure she felt a wicked coldness from the blonde. It did manage to give her some chills.

~ 0 ~

Marlenie slammed Luka's head against the dungeon wall and kept him there with a hand around his neck. "Don't make us ask again," she warned in a deadly, slow voice. " _Where_ is our mother?"

Luka groaned at the sharp pain he felt in his nose. He was sure Marlenie had broken it. Still, he laughed. "How should I know? I'm here, aren't I?"

Marlenie glanced back to her brother, both sharing unamused looks. Marlenie then dropped Luka's body to the ground and kept him in place with a heeled boot over his stomach. "Yeah, if you don't want those magic cuffs on your wrists to become your strangling weapon, I suggest you start talking."

"What do you want me to say? We simply seek what is rightfully ours."

"You cursed our mother centuries ago - you _tricked_ her, therefore you deserve _nothing_ ," Nicolas spat. "If my father had to wipe out your parents that's not really our fault."

"He killed our parents. My parents were _slaughtered_ -"

"Yeah, Dad tends to get murdery when he's mad," Marlenie boredly inspected her nails. "Even more so when it has to do with people hurting the family. You should count yourself lucky he spared you, though if you keep proving to be useless I might have to reconsider your fate."

"What are you going to do? Kill me? Go ahead," Luka laughed at the twins. "The rest of my bloodline will simply continue on without me. You don't get it, do you? We're coming back - the entire children you left in the foster care system, we're aging out. And as soon as we find the others we'll make them remember and we'll continue the curse. We'll take Maleny Rowan and hell, we'll even take you too," Luka laid eyes on Nicolas who, so far, was staring with crossed arms. "And then we'll take you, sweetheart-" Marlenie dug her heel into his stomach, not interested in hearing his delusional thoughts about her fate, "-and place you in a witches' body. Three sacrifices each time we find you. Amazing power."

Marlenie growled and went to pick him up but Nicolas called her to stop. "He wants to ramble, that's his right. It's nonsense, anyways."

Marlenie stepped away from Luka, not trusting herself to keep him alive if she remained right next to him. Luka sat upright, his cuffed hands over his lap, and smirked. "Where ever your mother is, she's not coming back. The Hollow must have her and when it's done, she'll give the body to us so we can sacrifice Maleny. And this time, we won't make the mistake our parents did: we'll burn the original body and keep the curse going forever, and ever, and ever-"

"ENOUGH!" Nicolas suddenly roared, eyes blazed with the fury he'd been keeping tucked inside. Marlenie blinked with growing amusement as her brother used his magic to pick Luka's body and violently slam him against the wall. With another hand, he telekinetically raised several of the knives Marlenie had brought in and used them as pinholders. "You don't want to talk? That's fine," Nicolas' voice had turned dark, a darkness that Marlenie had never seen. She was fascinated, honestly. Her brother held the same temper she and their father had yet barely showed it now.

Nicolas walked over to the four unconscious Harvest girls laying on the ground in a row. He picked up one knife along the way and stopped by the first girl. "Maybe if I take out the Harvest girls you'll feel the gravity of the situation."

Marlenie's eyebrows raised with anticipation. She quickly looked to Luka who, despite his previous nonchalant behavior, was now urgently trying to get the knives out of his shoulders.

"Let's start again: _where_ is my mother?" Nicolas demanded at knife point to the unconscious girl.

~ 0 ~

Alaric Saltzman thought he was doing more than he ought to for the family who once plotted the deaths of everyone he knew. Still, now a father, he felt like he should help and therefore was coming over to bring the weird bone he had to dig up from the Lockwoods. He was in a solitary road, driving calmly, when he spotted a blonde woman standing motionless up ahead. Unsurprisingly, the closer he got the less his car seem to want to run. Eventually, the car came to a clean stop mere inches from the blonde.

"Car trouble?" the Hollow used Maleny's suave, kind voice as Alaric got out from the car.

The man went to open the backseat door and reached inside for something. "Yeah, it's the damndest thing. Just died on me."

The Hollow gave the man points for his calmness despite the awry situation he was in. "Unless you want to follow suit... give me the bone."

Alaric had assumed this was probably a follower of the freaky entity the Mikaelsons were fighting. "Yeah. Sorry. Some other guy called dibs. And he's a real jerk." He pulled out a crossbow and shot an arrow at Maleny.

The woman grabbed it just before it punctured her chest. She then chucked it to the side and allowed her blue eyes to glow again, causing a massive blast of air that threw Alaric to the road. Even then, however, he laughed.

The Hollow had gone up to the car and opened the driver's seat to take the bone. "Why are you laughing?" she cast a look to Alaric.

"Cause I know something that you don't."

"And what's that?"

"I packed that trunk full of something quite special," Alaric revealed a small controller from his pocket.

One push of a button made the entire car explode.

~ 0 ~

Davina Claire had a lot to say indeed. She held the origin story of the Hollow who turned out to once be a girl blessed with strong magic by her tribe. Inadu, as she was named at her birth, had grown up with relentless hunger for more magic. She was ruthless, killing for vile fun. And despite her people trying to subdue her and kill her, it seemed impossible.

"Perhaps you could get to the bit of the story that might be of some use," Klaus impatiently cut Davina's story short. It felt like he'd been listening for _hours_ and nothing seemed to be valuable yet.

"You want to defeat the Hollow? She only has one weakness," Davina promised it was the truth.

"You have my undivided attention. What is it?"

"You," Davina set eyes on Hayley, the woman in return blinking with surprise. "You're the one chance we have."

Klaus had reached his patience's limits. "What the hell does that mean?"

But Davina had reached her patient's limit as well. "I'm done talking to you." She walked up to Hayley and seized her wrist. In a flash they were gone and back in the mortal world, but Klaus was to remain in the ancestral plane.

"Davina, what are we doing back here?" Hayley met eyes with Vincent who could see them perfectly outside the boundary.

Davina turned to greet Vincent with a soft smile. "It's really nice to see you again, Vincent. Thank you for calling me back." Vincent returned the smile, but there was something else he seemed to be keeping. Davina returned her attention to Hayley. "We need _you_ , Hayley, not Klaus. It all comes down to the bloodline. That's the only thing that worked against her. When her evil became too great to bear, the tribes united to defeat her. Tribe elders managed to capture her using mystical bindings. But even with all that power, Inadu was too strong. Death seemed the only solution. Four of the strongest elders each imbued a part of their magic into a mighty ax. When the weapon was ready they relied on her mother, the one who gave her life, to be the one to take her life. But before she could kill her child, Inadu cast a final spell. One powered by her own death. A curse upon all present that night. She bound them to the full moon, so that once a month they would turn into the very beasts they used to hunt her."

Hayley sighed with understanding. "The Hollow created the werewolf curse."

"You bear the mark of the Crescent. So did she. And her mother who, once cursed, became the first of the werewolves. The others fled, becoming the six other wolves you know today. But it was your line that began it all, and yours alone that still has power over the Hollow."

"That's why she's been hunting Labonairs," Hayley felt a dread fill her insides when she started making the conclusions.

"The Hollow fears you. She wants you dead. And if you die, there's only one Labonair left."

"Hope," Hayley's voice shook.

"You can protect your daughter, Hayley. But I need you to trust me."

Well, it didn't really seem like there was much of a choice, Hayley thought.

"Now the Ancestors can't find the Hollow, which means she's chosen a host. If you can track her, you can fight her," Davina promised her. "Your blood is her weakness, so use it. Once your spirit's free, I can use Klaus to cast a spell to imprison her for good. Remember, Hayley, this won't work if you don't trust me."

Hayley agreed on the terms and was set free.

"Davina?" Vincent's call made the girl turn around. "You've been calling out to more witches." Davina raised her head, not intending on denying her actions. "You've asked them to bring something. What is it?"

Davina kept silent. She was sure if she told him what she had tasked several witches to bring to her, he would have put a stop to it.

~ 0 ~

Alaric groaned as he got up to his feet once he saw the expensive car heading up the opposite lane. "Oh, thanks for coming," he saw Elijah coming out of the passenger's seat. "Would have been a long walk back to Mystic Falls."

Marcel took one look at the exploded car and Alaric and thought this was gone to hell already. "Don't tell me this is your expert."

"So what happened?" Elijah came forwards to inspect the damage he knew had cost them the bone.

"Well, aside for forfeiting my lease, I blew up one of those vampire-witch combos when she tried to take the bone," Alaric explained, wincing as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"What did she look like?"

"Blonde, small-" Alaric noticed the quick snap of head Elijah gave suddenly, "-glowing blue eyes, black coat, blue blouse...you seem to know her…"

"Maleny," Elijah rubbed his chin, concerned flourishing over him. Oh this would not bode well. "The Hollow has overtaken her."

"Yeah, well, she's really good at pain," Alaric promised. "But I don't suppose any of you are interested in a ledger that points us to where the other bones might be?"

"Hell yeah we are," Marcel gave a nod of his head.

"I studied the records, and I got a family name... Del Robles. Bloodline ends ten years ago, and according to the Lockwood records, somebody in that family is buried with one of those mystical bones."

"Where?"

"Black Clay Cemetery in the Treme."

"Well, Maleny has a head start," Elijah was still trying to figure out how to even react properly, but it appeared Marcel would be doing just fine.

"That cemetery was redeployed. Too much flooding. Now the bodies were moved to two separate locales...the Haves and the Have Nots."

"Del Robles were aristocracy," Elijah mumbled in thought.

"Okay, it means their crypt was moved to St. Ailbhe Cemetery," Marcel started first back to the car.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun, but on the way, can you drop me off at the ER?" Alaric groaned with each step he took after him.

Elijah lingered behind, glancing at the destroyed car a couple times. He was debating whether or not to inform the rest of the family of Maleny's whereabouts...and even then, how he would he explain her presence?

~ 0 ~

With the Harvest girls in danger, Luka sang like a canary. After hearing the Hollow had probably taken Maleny as a Host, Nicolas forgone the Harvest girls and threw the knife directly at Luka in rage. The knife stabbed Luka on the chest, but before he could actually die Marlenie gave him some of her blood.

He could be useful to them in a couple of days when the vervain he ingested left his system.

"What do we do with the Harvest girls?" the vampire then headed for the unconscious girls.

Nicolas rubbed his forehead, his breathing still patterned by the rage. "I don't know."

Marlenie gazed at the girls, all no older than sixteen. She recalled her brother's words on how comfortable she was with killing children. The answer was a clear 'no thanks'. It just didn't help that these girls had voluntarily chosen to become Harvest girls after regaining their memories.

"Let's compel the hell out of them," she decided and turned sideways to Nicolas. The warlock was glaring daggers at Luka. "Nick?" she called once, then twice, then three and louder to get his attention. "The Harvest girls? Let's just compel them and get them out of the Quarter."

"Fine by me," he spat and stalked out of the dungeon.

Marlenie rushed after him, closing the gate so that even this time Hope wouldn't come down. All the prisoners had been cuffed to get rid of any magic spells so it left them like sitting ducks. "Nick? What's happened?"

"What's happened?" Nicolas scoffed at her, surprising her for this was not sounding anything like her brother, least not the one she knew anyways. The warlock stopped once they were in the courtyard, and frankly he looked ready to explode. "Our mother was cursed to die for a thousand years by cold sacrifice and after only a couple years of freedom she's on the verge of being returned to the very curse again! And if that isn't enough, the Hollow has taken her body for a joy ride! _That's_ what happened!"

Marlenie slowly processed his outburst and for the splittest of seconds Nicolas felt guilty for shouting in her face like that as if it was her fault. He had a foul temper and it had taken him centuries to get it under control - something neither Klaus nor Marlenie had been able to do as of yet - to where he could be angry and remain calm and logical. He learned from his aunt Freya that it was not the best of ways to solve problems and keep hidden from Dahlia. Anger led to mistakes and in those eras he could not afford any mistakes. But now, now he was free of Dahlia and still there were enemies coming for the family from left to right. He kept the same habits, the habits that seemed to become a part of him, but it was too difficult to keep the habits going when it was his own mother at risk of peril again.

He couldn't lose his mother again.

~ 0 ~

Elijah and Marcel had successfully found the long bone hidden away in one of the graves. Marcel grabbed it and gave it a long examination before Elijah called to him.

"Now give it to me," his snapping fingers didn't exactly motivate Marcel to follow the order.

"Yeah. I don't think so."

"I'm not gonna ask you again."

Marcel inwardly groaned. "You have one of the bones already. The smart play would be to keep them divided, yet still in the hands of an ally you trust. So I guess you're just gonna have to trust me, Elijah."

Elijah sped Marcel against a wall, very seriously reminding, "I don't have to trust anyone."

"Careful, Elijah. Your true colors are starting to show. You may talk a big game, but when it comes down to it, you'll always be a poster boy for violence first. Always and forever."

Elijah narrowed his eyes on Marcel but soon felt a familiar presence. His insides churned when he turned and found Maleny - as the Hollow - walking into the crypt.

"You men and your silly posturing," the woman mused. "You should know better. After all, your prize already belongs to me."

"Now Maleny, you must fight this," Elijah reached a hand to her.

The Hollow smirked. "Oh, she is. Strong soul rattling around in a dying shell. It doesn't matter, because I'm still getting what I want. One last time. Give me what I seek."

Marcel shook his head. "Why don't you come get it?"

Maleny's lips scrunched for a second. "Fair enough. So long as you're prepared to die." She thrust a hand to the side, forcing Marcel to the wall, then did the same to Elijah. "Now the game comes to an end."

"Not just yet," the Hollow heard just before she felt a sharp jab on her back.

"Sorry Mal, but I think you'll forgive me once we get the Hollow bitch out of you," Hayley pulled out the knife she had stabbed Maleny with. It was smeared with Hayley's blood and Maleny's. "Hurts, huh?" Hayley moved around to face Maleny. "My blood?"

The Hollow had a hand over her back, but by the small laughter it didn't seem to be causing the effects Hayley hoped for. "Whoever told you how to destroy me left a little something out. Trapping me requires the release of power. The kind you get when you sacrifice the life of an immortal."

Hayley froze.

The Hollow retaliated in a worse manner. The gravity around the room seem to vanish and with that it returned to push Hayley, Marcel and Elijah to the ground. "Tell me, which of you will die to stop me?"

"No one is dying today," Marcel groaned as he tried to push himself up.

"Well, then I guess we're done," Maleny walked around the three and easily picked up the bone Marcel had dropped. Her departure was easy and swift with Maleny's speed.

Hayley took in a breath as she was finally able to get up. "I think someone _is_ going to die. Davina has Klaus."

Marcel pointed a finger for her to stop. "Wait... Davina?"

"The Ancestors need a sacrifice to put the Hollow down for good. Davina will not hesitate," Hayley blamed herself for being so naive. Of course the Hollow would need something grand like a strong power sacrifice.

~ 0 ~

"Okay, so where do we find the Hollow who's in Mal's body, then?" Cami asked from the two Mikaelson twins. She waited for their smart answer that never came.

"The Hollow can't be tracked if it's chosen a Host," Nicolas said, and it was the most frustrating thing.

"Yeah, but Mum's not just any regular Host, though," Marlenie thought back to what Luka had said earlier to them under the threat of losing one of the Harvest girls. "Mum has a connection to the dead and the living - her magic as a witch."

"But Maleny is a vampire now," Cami reminded slowly, still not understanding what point Marlenie was trying to make. "Witches can't be vampires."

"That's not exactly true," Nicolas shook his head, his mind turning the cogs for a new plan with Marlenie's words. "Mum stopped being a regular witch the moment she was first sacrificed. She formed a connection to the dead after coming back from the afterlife a thousand times. Her magic still runs through her veins, left inaccessible of course."

"And _that_ is something you can track with our own blood," Marlenie held her wrists to her brother, eager to make any donation she could.

Nicolas beamed.

However, the excitement over their prospect didn't last very long. They heard the door of Hope's bedroom burst open and a couple seconds later the girl herself appeared.

"Hope, what's wrong?" Cami asked her after listening to the girl's erratic heartbeats.

"I heard my Dad - and the Ancestor," Hope frantically replied, eyes on her siblings. "She's going to hurt Dad!"

"Can she actually hear them?" Marlenie whispered to Nicolas without taking her eyes off Hope who was running down the stairs.

"Oh yeah. She's a New Orleans witch by technicality."

"We have to go help him!" Hope came running up to them, pleading them to take her to the church. "Dad's going to die!"

~ 0 ~

When Hayley, Marcel and Elijah reached the church, they heard Vincent arguing it out - or pleading anyways - with Davina herself.

"Listen to me, if you do this you will spark another war that we are not capable of finishing!" Vincent was on the verge of shouting from frustration.

Davina's attention was taken away by the three vampires coming into the room. "Don't try to stop me, Marcel. If I don't kill Klaus, if I don't put down the Hollow, she'll come for all of you. She'll burn the entire city."

Marcel saw there was no getting into the boundary keeping Klaus' body. "Davina, please. D. There's got to be another way."

"No. I was just waiting for the weapon, but now that you're here... I'm sorry. But you need to kill him!"

"No, Davina-"

"He's lived ten lifetimes, that's more than enough!"

"He's Hope's father!" Hayley added but it made no difference to Davina.

"She'll still have you. But if we don't stop the Hollow, then Hope will die. You can save her, Marcel. And everyone in New Orleans."

"Stop this. This is about your grievances with me," Elijah was sure this was stemming from his own doings to the girl - which admiteddly he had well deserved.

"This has nothing to do with you. This is about a sacrifice," Davina shook with the same frustration sitting over the others. "One death for the greater good."

"Then take me," Elijah offered himself up without hesitation. "If indeed there is no other way... then end this now."

Marcel barred his way towards the boundary circle. "No. No. No, nobody's dying today!"

Davina sighed. "Then I'll do it myself." She balled a fist and used it to telekinetically force Marcel into the boundary. With the same power she forced his fangs to blare and deliver the required blood droplets that would be venomous towards Klaus. As much as Marcel fought to get away, he just couldn't. He could only see the drops of his blood forming a small puddle that was making its way towards Klaus.

"NO!" they heard Hope's shout.

"You bitch," followed Marlenie's spat at the young, dead witch. She, Cami and Nicolas had arrived with the frantic Hope. They had no idea what was going on but it just couldn't bode well.

"You promised to help, but you're not helping!" Hope stormed down the aisle despite her siblings' attempts to stop her. "You're hurting us, and I won't let you." She cast her own little hand towards the boundary ring and with a force of strong, magical wind blew the ring's shape.

Needless to say, everyone was quite shocked of the magical outburst the girl managed to produce.

~ 0 ~

In the dungeons, all that could be heard was the dripping water from the pipes above. So when Luka began to hear the footsteps out in the corridor, he steadied himself against the wall to greet Nicolas yet again.

"Ah, come back so soon?" his taunt flew over Nicolas' head.

The warlock came with a clarification in mind. "You gave the Hollow the perfect Host."

Luka's eyebrows raised together, a smile twitching its way at the corners of his lips. "Did I?"

"I didn't get it before, but my sister made me realize it," Nicolas was dead set on getting the confirmation he needed to know _now_. "Your bloodline created a special type of witch in my mother. A witch who lives and dies over the course of a thousand years. With death comes power, with rebirth comes power. You've been fueling up my mother with a whole new level of power for thousands of years and you didn't even know it."

Luka smirked. "But the Hollow did. And that was our bargaining chip. A powerful woman to play Host for the most powerful witch. She made us see what our family created and she graciously accepted your mother's body as her Host in return for igniting the curse again."

"You are aware if the Hollow knows this then there's a good chance she won't give my mother's body back? She just thinks my mother is powerful in general."

"The Hollow will get her body back and we will regain Maleny Rowan. She is ours to sacrifice."

Nicolas' lips stretched into a dangerous smile. "A sacrifice can't happen if there's no Harvest girls and leader."

Luka's smugness began to fade. "You would kill children?"

Nicolas stepped forwards, hands behind his back, with a pensive face. "You are no child. You should know, I was blessed with powerful grandmothers on both sides of my family. I even had a wicked aunt who stole my childhood. I know more spells than your entire bloodline. And in one…" he had walked up to Luka, "...there was one specific spell I took joy in planning for my wicked aunt. It brings up your worst nightmare and they _they_ kill you from the insides."

"Even if you kill me, if you kill the Harvest girls, my family will do anything to get the sacrifice going," Luka said as a last resort now that he saw the gravity of the situation.

"And my family will do everything to stop them," Nicolas slapped his hands on either side of Luka's head. "Goodbye Dawson."

~0~

Freya tried conducting the difficult spell to track Maleny down through her magic. However, it grew even more challenging with Klaus practically breathing down her neck waiting to see results. Eventually, Freya opened her eyes and turned to her brother.

"I need _space_ ," she said as softly as possible.

This made no difference to Klaus. "You have been there for twenty minutes. And what have you found?"

Freya sighed and turned back to the table, leaning her hands on it. "It's a complicated spell that I have never performed."

"It's a tracking spell-"

"It's not any ordinary tracking spell," Freya cut him off with another sigh. "Nicolas was on the right track. Maleny, theoretically, still possess her witch's magic due to the long lasting connection she has to the dead and the living, however that magic is inaccessible. It's not been used therefore I might as well be tracking something that doesn't exist."

"So what then? We wait for this Hollow to use the magic? And by that time, it would have realized the potential Mal stores? I think _not_!" Klaus practically shouted in Freya's face. He couldn't understand why she was wasting time explaining things he didn't care about. He just needed to know where Maleny was so he could bring her back and get that wretched Hollow out of her body. "Go back to doing the spell and do not stop until you have a location!"

Freya didn't even try to continue arguing about how difficult it was. She let Klaus go, thinking it was better if he didn't see her continuously fail to find Maleny. She faced her tools again, taking in a deep breath before she began to try again.

~0~

Cami walked into the lounge room where Elijah had taken refuge after their day out. "You know, the whole point of me not going with you and Marcel on the bone hunt was to give you the chance to mend things," the blonde crossed her arms. "In no way did I ever imply you needed to heroically sacrifice yourself."

Elijah looked up from the glass of bourbon he was nursing at the counter. He couldn't help twitch a little smile despite her straight, disapproving stare. "I was under a moment of great stress, Camille."

"Look, I get it, it was for your brother. Roles reversed the same thing would've been done," Cami walked over to him. "It just doesn't mean I'm happy about it. In the end, when this is over, I _do_ want us to...I don't know, make a future together. We can't do that if you're dead. Remember that poem? _'The life that I have i_ _s all that I have, a_ _nd the life that I have is_ _yours.'"_ She came up to the counter and took the seat beside him. "You can't give me that type of sweet poem and then...die. We should be making plans for our future...we haven't even talked about that actually..."

Elijah put down his glass on the counter, taking a moment to think about her words. "Manosque," left his lips a minute later.

Cami blinked with confusion. "Huh?"

"Manosque," he reached for her hand and laced his fingers with hers. "It's this...beautiful village in the south of France, the...countryside. That is where I envision our future."

Cami thought about the unknown place with a degree of anticipation. "Really?"

"I want nothing more than to show it to you. And I will. I promise you," he leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss. "No more heroic sacrifices."

Cami smiled and sarcastically thanked him for his consideration. "You know, apart from everything, I really think you and Marcel need to make some type of mend, at least to be civil. And...I think you know how to do that."

"I do," Elijah confirmed, a tiny sigh slipping through his lips. He figured he owed Marcel that much, especially since the Quarter was under threats again.

~0~

"Those for me?" Hope excitedly eyed the plate of cookies Hayley had brought into their room.

Hayley smiled at her daughter, even more so when Hope practically jumped off the bed to take the plate faster. "After what you did today, your dad compelled the entire Magnolia candy shop."

Hope brought the plate back to the bed and took her seat once again. "Dad seemed sad. Is it because aunt Mal is still missing?"

"Among things," Hayley agreed. "But I also think that he wanted to be the one doing the helping today." Hope shrugged and took a bite into a cookie, which turned out to be even more delicious than thought. "But we both agreed on one thing: you were very, very brave."

"I just thought about what you would do. It's like you always say: if we stick together, nothing can hurt us. Always and forever." Hope put two fingers together and kissed them, then holding it out to Hayley.

With a smile, Hayley did the same.

Hope took a couple bites of her cookies but suddenly paused. Her eyes gazed over the tray and Hayley wondered what was wrong with them. Hope grabbed the tray and hopped off her bed. "I'll be right back," she promised her mother then walked out of her room.

Hayley watched her daughter go with a level of suspicion, but she figured Hope just had a child idea.

~ 0 ~

When Hope found her father, he was in a dusty room that seemed to be filled with different paintings. She spotted a couple that seemed familiar, and it only took her a minute to realize why some of them were familiar. "Aunt Mal described some of these."

Klaus was in the middle of picking up one painting in particular when he sensed Hope coming into the room. He settled the painting to face him then leaned forwards. "Hope, it is bedtime, and you know that." He saw her holding the plate of cookies and wondered what she wanted. "Take those cookies out of the room, sweetheart. There's dust all over here."

"I know your sad because aunt Mal is missing so I wanted to share the cookies with you," Hope walked towards him and held the tray up to him. "I would have asked Marls and Nicolas but I think they're down in the dungeons again. They must be sad too."

Truth was Klaus didn't even know what his twins were up to at the moment. Each of them took out their feelings in different manners, after all. Still, he smiled at Hope's attempt to comfort him. "Thank you, but I'm not really in the mood for sweets."

Hope wasn't surprised he didn't accept her offer, but she wasn't going to leave him alone just yet. Maybe her mom wouldn't mind extending her bed time if she was here with her father. "Are all these your paintings?"

"Um...yeah," Klaus gave a nod and watched as Hope went to set her plate of cookies on a dusty table. "They are."

Hope noticed how he was holding the painting in front of him. "Is that one your favorite?"

Klaus looked down at the painting, his fingers unintentionally gripping the edges of it. "One of them..."

"Can I see it?"

Klaus raised the painting so he could look at it alone for another moment and eventually turned it over for Hope. She recognized her aunt Mal straightaway and smiled.

Maleny sat on a rock, surrounded by a bright green scenery around her. She wore a long dress and had long, blonde hair cascading over her shoulders. Hope spotted a red flower crown sitting on Maleny's head and remembered how skilled her aunt Mal was with those. Maleny was smiling to the side, looking incredibly happy.

"Is that from when you lived in the village?"

"Yes," Klaus forgot that Hope was already informed about their long ago village thanks to Maleny. "Your aunt Mal had a favorite place in the forest she liked to go to whenever she wanted to be alone."

"Did you go too?" Hope remembered some stories Maleny would tell her about the two sometimes taking a break from their village and just relaxing in the forest.

"We did," Klaus' smile grew the more he thought about those memories. His heart ached a second later when he remembered Maleny wasn't there with him to remember together. "I painted this years ago and your aunt Mal would say it made her feel old."

Hope chuckled. "But aunt Mal looks so young!"

"You know your aunt Mal," Klaus playfully shook his head. "She doesn't believe me when I tell her she's the prettiest woman in the world. So I have to prove it with these paintings. Truth is, to me, she still looks like the girl from the forest from these paintings."

Hope watched her father grow quiet in the next seconds. His gaze fell to the painting and she assumed he was thinking about her aunt Mal again. She walked up to him and hugged his waist. Klaus smiled to himself and put down the painting to hug her better.

"We're going to get aunt Mal back, Dad," Hope whispered. "She helped save you, uncle Elijah, uncle Kol, aunt Rebekah, aunt Freya, Marlenie...now it's turn to save her."

Klaus hugged his daughter tightly, hoping that wherever Maleny's consciousness was she would know he was coming to get her.

~0~

Elijah came out from the elevator leading to Marcel's penthouse. He came with the intention to actually talk with Marcel, and even if Marcel didn't forgive him - because Elijah honestly didn't expect that - they would at least find some common ground to be around each other for the duration of the Hollow's threat. He made it a couple steps down the hallway when he noticed the penthouse door was cracked open. Elijah took precaution as he inched near the door, slowly pushed it open. Darkness met him but he couldn't make a complete scan as something whooshed past him.

Before Elijah could even turn, Maleny stabbed him on the back with a rosebush, thorn-covered stake. Elijah sharply gasped at the terrible pain on his back, eyes blazed open as Maleny's small figure went around him and let him drop in the process.

She smirked down at the Original, completely uncharacteristic of her usual self. "Somewhere in this head-" she tapped the side of her head, "-I can hear her screaming. It's too bad she doesn't know what's going on outside. I'm sure she'd love to see what I've done with her precious brother in law."

Elijah squirmed on the ground trying to reach for the stake on his back. He glared up at the woman, looking straight into her possessed eyes. She gained even more satisfaction seeing him helpless.

"Are you ready to die, Elijah? Because I'm quite ready to _live_."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Yes, I went there, I liked making Maleny evil. It brings me satisfaction actually xD. I rarely get to make evil OCs - besides the Dawsons as a collect whole - so I'm taking pleasure. I just generally liked this episode because we see how each Mikaelson in relation to Maleny reacts to her gone. Nicolas releases that temper he learned to control, Marlenie just...continues being Marlenie, and then we see Klaus having to control himself because of Hope and yet he still has that same temper that comes out.

And also oooooh noooo poor Elijah :ooo

 **For the review:**

 **petrovamikaelson** : Aww, thanks so much! Yeah don't worry, Elijah and Klaus will remain totally alive by the time I truly finish their story in the next season.


	9. Here She Comes

Marlenie gave a light knock on Nicolas' bedroom door. It was already opened and so she merely knocked then walked in to find her brother deeply engrossed in a grimoire.

"You killed Luka," she stated like it was a typical breakfast conversation they were having. She did, though, cross her arms and waited to see what reaction Nicolas would give. No one had yet to notice what he did due to the gravity of the situation they were in.

The Mikaelson warlock looked up from the grimoire in his possession, no visible trace of guilt. "He was no child."

"Yeah. Didn't think you had it in you, honestly…"

"I was raised by a ruthless aunt, Marls, but I learned to control myself. For that matter, I go to extremities when the circumstances require it."

Marlenie was honestly amused. "Right, so, um, where are the Harvest girls? Can't seem to find those anywhere."

"I performed the same spell aunt Freya did on Aurora de Martel. They'll be sleeping until I say otherwise."

"Wow I love this side of you," Marlenie laughed and came to sit down on the bed. Nicolas rolled her eyes. "So what's with the old book?"

"It's our grandmother's," Nicolas was able to say before Marlenie started looking at the book with distrust. "Our mother's mother: Abigail Rowan."

Marlenie's eyebrows knitted together. "Didn't know we had a grimoire that was hers. Mum never said."

"Well, this was the only one our grandmother was able to make before she died. I was just thinking maybe we could find something about Mum here."

"If Grandma Esther didn't have anything useful in a series of books, what makes you think Grandma Abigail would in one book?"

"Because she had to have been making the grimoire while thinking of Mum," Nicolas passed the pages. "So maybe she put in some spells specifically catered to situations Mum would find herself in."

Marlenie gave a sarcastic hum. "Hmm, I doubt she thought Mum would be possessed by an ancient evil spirit a thousand years after her birth. Oh, and she definitely wouldn't have thought that Mum would be a vampire too."

"It's worth a shot, okay?" Nicolas sighed. "And I'm not skipping over any chance."

~0~

Through his pain, Elijah never noticed how the hell he made it to a dusty old cabin and neatly placed inside a magical ring barrier. Lying on the ground, unable to get up on his own, he just saw the familiar boots coming in through the cabin door.

"Such a will to live. Wouldn't it be easier to give in?" the Hollow continued to use Maleny's body for host. "To simply let go? Part of you must crave that peace. The silence of the nothing that lasts forever."

"Why don't you get out of that body and come a little closer…" Elijah raised his head as much as he could. "I'm sure we can find peace together."

A dark smile spread across Maleny's face. "I assure you will have enough company. When you die, so does your entire sire line. The great sacrifice that will return me to flesh and blood." She headed for the table nearby that held her three bones. "All I need now is the last of my remains for the ritual. Your family has done the job of finding them, and they should be coming to me soon enough."

"You can't expect to torment my family and survive-"

"I survived far worse fates than your family. I say let them come," Maleny stepped towards the barrier, arms stretched to her sides. "They will try to save you from the poison coursing through your veins, and in doing so, they will give me what I want. And as a reward for their efforts, I will let your family watch as you finally die." She stepped into the barrier, and as much as Elijah fought to get up he just couldn't. With that, she easily twisted the stake on his back and took delight with his agonizing scream.

It only came to a stop when the Hollow sensed new arrivals to the cabin. She headed out and saw a couple of witches coming out of the only car in sight. "You've come early. Good."

"We're eager to serve," one of the younger witches said, bending down to a knee.

"And your covens?"

"More witches join us every day. They now know they're either with us or against us."

"You New Orleans witches have been weak," the Hollow circled the group of witches on their knees. "It is because of me that many of you Dawsons were able to recuperate your memories, after all."

"And we are eternally grateful," the only Dawson in the group was quick to say. "Our Ancestors have informed us, however, that we have lost Luka. The Harvest Girls still remain lost as well."

"Hmm, pity," although the Hollow showed no particular sorrow for Luka's demise. "I liked his fervor. Still, my rebirth looms thanks to his efforts. My rebirth will herald a new day to all who swear allegiance to me. Only a few final details remain."

~0~

Cami rushed down the stairs just in time to catch Klaus leaving for the streets. She had to practically shout to get him to stop for a second. "I need to talk to you-"

"You'll have to excuse me but I'm in a bit of a rush to go find Maleny-"

"You found her?"

With a low mutter, Klaus said not. "Freya continues to fail to find her but the Hollow can't be far. I'll find her myself."

Cami sighed and made a motion for him to just stop for one minute. "Just tell me if you've seen Elijah?" but by the look on Klaus' face it appeared he was just as clueless as she was. "I haven't seen him since he left for Marcel's last night. I'm worried something's happened."

Judging by the look on Klaus' face, Cami knew it was definitely time to worry.

~0~

Hope crept into Nicholas' bedroom after hearing the two siblings going back and forth in some argument. She spotted a grimoire on the bed and walked up to it, barely grazing a finger over it when Marlenie called to her.

"Don't you go touching things like that, Hope. They can be dangerous."

Hope playfully rolled her eyes. "I know what a grimoire looks like. It's not dangerous."

"But it's not something interesting to you either."

Hope released a small breath of annoyance. "I know you're trying to find aunt Mal. I can help."

Nicolas smiled softly at the young girl. He sat down on the bed and allowed her to crawl up too. "We know you want to help, and we really appreciate it, but...this is sort of advanced magic."

Hope crossed her arms, her lips pursing together. "Try me."

Marlenie chuckled. Nicolas, on the other hand, was more serious in the matter. "Look, Hope, the Hollow has gotten my mother's body and I need to find her before she hurts my Mum."

"Why don't you do a locating spell? You know how to do those. I've seen you."

"Well, the Hollow cloaks herself. We can't track her nor my mother's body…"

Hope studiously watched Nicolas, letting a minute of silence pass before she went, "...but…?"

Nicolas smiled. Hope was far smarter than given credit. "My Mum has a special connection that we didn't really think about up until now."

"What's that?"

"Basically," Marlenie came to take a seat at the edge of the bed, "Our mother has a strong connection to magic that could let us track her down."

"Magic?" Hope repeated, growing confused by the second. "Like...like a witch does?" both twins nodded. "But aunt Mal is a vampire. She can't have magic anymore."

"Our mother was no ordinary witch, though," Marlenie wagged a finger at Hope. "Dying and rebirth is a strong phenomenon that adds power to those in the ceremony, including the victim."

"So...we can find aunt Mal by tracking her magic?" Hope was quite proud she'd gotten in one go.

"Yes, theoretically, but...Mum hasn't activated her magic therefore we can't really track her yet."

Hope thought about it for a moment. "So if we can get aunt Mal to use her magic - to unlock it - we could find her? Would that work even though she's a vampire?"

"If the Hollow is still inside her there's a chance it can unlock the door to Mum's magic," Nicolas said in thought. "Because I assume this sort of magic, that has stirred for over a thousand years, would require a massive magical event to be unlocked."

"And how do we do that?" Marlenie asked.

"Find her first," Nicolas sighed as they once again returned to the beginning.

"Then let's see if we can find her with something in the book," Hope was all too excited to dive into the grimoire sitting between her and Nicolas.

"I've been looking Hope," Nicolas shook his head. "This is my Mum's mother's grimoire-"

"Aunt Mal's mom?" Hope blinked and started at the grimoire with new awe.

"We thought it could help, but…"

Hope felt the distraught radiate from Nicolas, and even Marlenie. She couldn't just sit there and not help. Aunt Mal was out there, maybe scared, and no one thought that maybe she - Hope - could help with new magic. She grabbed the grimoire and thought long and hard, unsure of where to focus, or on what. But then, she felt the presence of something...someone. Her eyes snapped to the side where she saw, for the splittest of seconds, a familiar brunette woman.

Hope swallowed. The last time she had seen Davina Claire was when she ruined the spell Davina had tried using on Klaus.

This time, however, Davina seemed to be on a different plan. "The church," she said slowly. "Go to the church now."

"Hope?" Nicolas gently shook the girl.

"Hope, what is it?" Marlenie got up from the bed and began to look around suspiciously. Nothing could get in anymore with Freya's new boundary spell.

The urgency soon filled Hope's face. "The church. Aunt Mal might be at the church."

Nicolas may have had no idea how Hope could have come up with that but he wasn't going to waste time. Hope had already led them to the church once and she turned out to be correct.

~0~

Vincent had the unpleasant experience to come face to face with the Hollow again, albeit inside a vampire. The Hollow had come to the church, on her own, to deliver a message, at least that is what she was trying to pass down. If only Vincent would give her the chance.

"Here you are. Hiding inside the body of a vampire, because you're not as strong as you want me to think," Vincent made the error of saying.

Maleny's eyes glowed the eerie, bright blue that called upon the Hollow's powers. Telekinetically, she raised Vincent's body, forcing his spine to arch. "You always had such spine," she mused over the screams of the man while she walked up to the altar. Despite its messy appearance, she still gave it a quick examination in case something useful popped up. "It's what I enjoyed most about you. And I know you enjoyed the power I had to offer. It's still here, Vincent. You can have it all back if you want. You just need to swear loyalty to me."

"The only thing that I want is for you to slither back into the rot that you came from!" Vincent still managed to get out.

"I have an offer for you, Vincent, one that could very well save your life," Maleny's fingers grazed over the turned over chalices of the altar table.

But they were no longer alone. Visitors - or intruders as the Hollow deemed them - had burst through the double doors.

"Mal?" Klaus was cautious in his call. He had no idea what they were walking into except an evil ancient spirit. And despite the family's arguments on who should go try and retrieve Maleny, he - and Marlenie - did not listen.

Well, it was quite a sight to see when Maleny turned around and showed her emotionless, dark face. This was nowhere near the woman they both knew and loved.

"You found me," even her straight, calm voice was wrong. "Should I congratulate you or take pleasure in your early demises?"

"How about you get out of my mother and we can have a real fight," Marlenie ordered through gritted teeth.

"Tempting but it's not time," the Hollow released Vincent from the agonizing hold and let his body crash down on the floor. "I require the last of my bones and if you fail to return it to me I will be forced to go into your home, kill you all, and take the bone."

"Maleny, you need to expel this she-devil," Klaus called to the woman in vain. He was outraged this spirit was driving her body like it was nothing.

"She can't hear you," the Hollow smirked. "Poor thing, she's just waiting to be sacrificed-"

Klaus didn't listen to more. He sped up to her, but facing her...was as much as he could bring himself to do. Hollow or no Hollow this was still Maleny, it was her body and...he couldn't hurt her.

The Hollow recognized her advantage and smirked. "What a conundrum..." Her eyes glowed blue again, bringing up a strong force of wind that knocked both Klaus and Marlenie over some of the upturned benches. "The offer I'm still kind enough to give you is still up for grabs. Follow my instructions and your family might survive. All but your dear brother, Elijah, of course."

"Elijah?" Klaus immediately glared at her, but at her devil smirk he knew his brother was already touching death.

~0~

The Hollow's remaining bone scratched the table's surface it was on as it went in repeated circles. Freya picked it up only to stop it's god awful scratching and listen to Klaus and Marlenie, along with Vincent's, tale of the Hollow.

Cami's face was outright pale, terrified, and yet not even for herself. "The Hollow has Elijah?"

"She must have gotten him yesterday night," Marcel said after doing the mental calculations.

"Oh my God, it was my fault," Cami clapped a hand to her mouth. Her eyes were threatening to spill tears but she wouldn't let them, at least not now when everyone was around. "I told him to talk to you, and-"

Hayley set her arms over Cami's shoulders, comfortingly squeezing them. "Hey, this is not your fault."

"The Hollow wants that stupid bone and she'll come get it if we don't give it up," Marlenie stared at the jawbone in Freya's hand.

"For an exchange?" asked Hayley.

Vincent shook his head, frustrated and so shouted, "No, you don't understand. There won't be an exchange! She needs Elijah to die in order to channel the energy from his sacrifice! She's already poisoned him with the rose thorns. She wants this bone by sundown. If she doesn't get it, then she's gonna come here and she's gonna take it. And when she does, she's gonna burn this entire city to the ground."

"So we don't let her," Nicolas argued back. "We're not handing her the means to uncle Elijah's death."

"What can we do, man?" Vincent rubbed his temples. "She has us cornered-"

"You want a plan of attack, it comes down to this. Use the element of surprise," Marcel spoke up. "She wants the bone then we give it to her but along with a special weapon."

"You want us to kill my mother?" Marlenie was ready to fight against anyone who remotely considered about the idea.

"No, but maybe with Hayley's blood we can get the Hollow out," Vincent got the jist of what Marcel had actually meant. "I can bury her with the spell Davina was trying to use."

Marlenie then whirled around to Vincent, her angry increasing as each person spoke. "The Ancestors' spell requires a sacrifice. An Original has to die."

"Yeah, and right now, the Hollow is gonna use Elijah's death to come back, but there's a window where I can use the sacrifice to shove her back into her grave," Vincent responded.

"You'll forgive me for stating the obvious, but your plan does nothing to save my brother," Klaus pointed out. "In fact, it relies entirely upon his death. I also I have no guarantee we can free Maleny so all this sounds pretty rubbish to me."

Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose, trying not to shout. "Elijah's already dead. Now, the only thing that we can do right now is figure out whether or not that death is gonna count for something."

"That's not a call any of us get to make. Especially not you," Hayley frowned at the man. "There has to be a way to save him."

"Aunt Freya, you still have the antidote we used to cure Marcel's bite?" Nicolas started to think.

"I have it, yes. But I don't know if it'll work against the poison of the rosebush."

Vincent clapped his hands together to get their attention. "You guys aren't listening, okay? Even if we do cure Elijah, we still have a big problem, that's called the Hollow. And it's just gonna keep coming at us until it resurrects. And when that happens, we're talking about an ancient, primal power that's made flesh and blood. It will wipe out this entire city in an afternoon, and ain't a damn thing that you or anybody else here can do about it. Now, my way? We take her out while she's still a spirit. Elijah dies, but at least his death counts for something."

"No, that's not an option," Cami was the one to fight this time. She had out away her tears and built up a front for them.

"Look, we can save Maleny-" Vincent turned to Klaus, "-by getting the Hollow with Hayley's blood. After that, I can put the Hollow down and keep it from coming back. Right now it has Maleny, but what's the guarantee that it won't try to come for Hope next? This thing wiped out the entire Labonair bloodline. It already got to Hope once, right? Now, this is a chance, Klaus. This is probably the one chance that you got. Now you want to blow that opportunity to maybe save your brother, or do you want to do you job and save Maleny?"

"Don't use Maleny to justify your absurd plan," Klaus snapped first before his anger would take him over. "I don't plan on losing anyone therefore we will think until we find something else."

"There's always a loophole," Freya reminded them. "I have my mother's grimoires. I welcome you to study them with me," she gave an expectant look at Vincent.

"Fine," the man agreed but with very little hope.

"I'll bring over Grandma Abigail's grimoire too," Nicolas said, nodding them to go ahead. Cami made a weak excuse to be alone for a moment and was allowed to leave.

"Not before we finish looking for something to help Mum," Marlenie told him, sounding like she was reminding him that their mother was still gone. "What if we let Hope touch the book again? See if she can conjure up the same spirit from last time?"

Hayley gaped and pointed a finger at Marlenie, soon channeling that protective mother aura. "What did you just say?"

"Don't worry about it, Hayley. It wasn't actually a spirit," Nicolas assured. "Davina was the one to tell her. I got her to explain after you and Dad left."

"I'm not sure I like the idea of this girl speaking to Hope," Klaus laid a look on Nicolas that had a clear 'fix it' meaning.

"I can't block the Ancestors from talking to her. That's the whole point of bringing them back."

"Besides if Davina wants to help in this to get Mum back, let's allow it," Marlenie was all too happy for anything that would prove useful in their attempt to get Maleny back. "Despite their rocky relationship, Davina knows Maleny had nothing to do with her death."

"I am trusting you not to expose Hope to anything she shouldn't be doing nor seeing," Hayley gave the warning to the twins, eyes flickering from one to the other. She stared even as she turned to leave, only making a couple steps away before Klaus called out to her.

"And where are you going?"

She stopped, turning sideways, with a grimness that hadn't been there a second ago. "Elijah is dying, Klaus, and we do remember what happens when an Original dies, right?"

The question settled over the three Mikaelsons like bricks.

"The sireline dies," Marlenie mumbled, slowly crossing her arms. "And with it…"

"Camille is not dying because Elijah is not dying," Klaus used that tone of finality that left very few chances of an argument.

Hayley rocked on her feet. "Yeah, well, whether or not it happens I think Cami needs some support. And a backup plan," she ended sharply with a glance directed at Nicolas.

Nicolas gave a small nod. "I'm on it," he declared and hurried to leave as well.

~ 0 ~

When Hayley found Cami in her bedroom, the blonde woman was staring at the open closet full of visible, crisp-clean suits.

Without turning to face Hayley, Cami acknowledged the presence by saying the first thing that popped into her head. "I actually met Elijah through a pseudo-psychologist session. Just a regular bartending night and this guy - in a suit - just sat there at the counter...with a lot of things to say about his brother."

Hayley gave a little smile once Cami had turned around. "Not like your typical drunken customers, I imagine."

"No, not at all," Cami's face broke into a big smile. "I thought 'what the hell is this guy doing here? He looks too rich for Rousseau's'. The suit kept getting to me…" Hayley chuckled, eventually making Cami follow. "Never in my mind did I ever imagine we would be here…" the big smile was slowly fading away as reality came crashing down on her yet again. Her eyes filled with tears and so she quickly shut the closet and shook her head to shake the tears away.

"Cami, we're going to save him," Hayley walked up to the blonde, setting a hand on Cami's back. Cami had kept her hands around the closet door handles, her head down, and despite fighting the urge to cry her body lightly trembled with the tears. "Freya will not stop until she finds a way."

"And what if there's nothing anyone can do?" Cami raised her head, her glossy eyes meeting Hayley's beside her. "I feel like I've loved him for a long time and yet at the same time we haven't actually lived it." It was fate's cruel play on them because time had slipped through their fingers and now...now things might be coming to an end.

"The story's not over," Hayley promised her, giving her a hug. "There is no way this is over, you'll see." But even as she spoke these comforting words, there was an inkling part of Hayley that whispered the opposite.

~ 0 ~

The Hollow continued to watch over her dying prey squirm and attempt to turn over. It amused her that despite his fighting, Elijah had still been unsuccessful in removing the stake on his back. Her attention was driven to the door seconds before it opened up by a young warlock.

"Dawsons," the Hollow smiled. "I take it you are prepared for any attempts by the Mikaelsons?"

"Of course," the warlock answered with a quick nod. "I have...only been sent...to ask…"

The Hollow leaned away from the table she'd been on and walked towards the warlock. "Ask me what?"

The sharp, authoritative tone made the warlock wince. "U-um...my family. We would like...a reassurance that you will...you will return the body once you have been reborn."

"This old thing?" the Hollow smiled and passed a hand down the side of Maleny's body. "What's the rush?"

"U-um, it's just...well, we've been waiting...my family, we've been owed this for a thousand years and-"

"I will hand over the body when I see fit," the Hollow snapped, eyes blazing on the warlock as she walked forwards. With a good sense, the warlock backtracked every step. "And until then you will continue doing my bidding lest you want to find yourself on the opposing side."

"O-of course. I-I'm sorry-"

"Go," the Hollow had backtracked the warlock to the cabin door. "And make sure I get no visitors at all tonight."

"Y-yes!" the warlock rushed out of the cabin without looking back.

The Hollow watched in fair amusement, laughing even, then turned back to Elijah. "I think they're hiding something. This little body-" her finger waved at her face, "-holds something more than just vampire blood. I can feel it. And if it should ever come to use, I might just keep her."

Despite his own situation, Elijah feared what would become of Maleny of the Hollow decided to keep her body after all.

~ 0 ~

Freya held her old blue pendant to her family after deciding this was the only possible way to save Elijah from death. "Vincent said the Ancestors can imprison the Hollow. To power their spell, an Original must die. If Elijah is going to die one way or another, we should harness his death, and then I can try placing his soul inside the pendant."

"Sorry, you said 'try'?" Cami repeated the key word. "What do you mean try?"

"Well, it won't be easy. We have to find him, and I'll need all of my magic and Nicolas' magic. Plus, Elijah's been poisoned for some time, there's... a chance he won't survive the process."

"What…?" Cami felt even more distraught, her gaze quickly finding Hayley as if to say...this was truly over.

"But I would survive," Klaus said just as he thought of the idea. He immediately felt the crazed looks from the others. "If I'm the sacrifice, you can channel my death to imprison the Hollow before she kills Elijah. Yes, I'll be in the pendant, but the rest of you can find him, cure him, and bring him home."

"You cannot do that!" Marlenie was the first to argue.

"You'll find I do as I please, sweetheart," was the easy response he gave.

This only fueled Marlenie's anger. "You'll just be leaving us! What do we tell Mum!?"

"She'd understand," Klaus was sure of it. Yes, Maleny would probably be angry as hell but seeing the circumstances she would understand the reasons. If roles were reversed, Klaus was sure she would be attempting the same thing.

"We're bringing you back," Nicolas said after a moment of tensed silence. He understood what his father was trying to do. There was no time to waste arguing the moral reasons when there was a sensible solution at hand, no matter how difficult it was.

Klaus gave a little smile towards his son. "I trust you will. But first we bring back Maleny."

"I...guess I'll get started…" Freya slowly said, figuring the whole plan was already set anyways. "Vincent is already working on the weapon we can use to bring Maleny back."

"Well if my Dad's going to sacrifice himself then I want to be the one to bring Mum back," Marlenie swallowed hard.

Freya nodded and motioned Marlenie to go with her. "We need to start things fast. C'mon."

Slowly, Cami drifted after them as well. Before Nicolas left, Klaus grabbed him by the arm and spoke in a hushed voice so that only he and Hayley would hear. "If by any chance this doesn't go as planned...what of Camille?"

Nicolas cleared his throat as he checked to make sure Cami was out of hearing shot. He then pulled out a red pendant that sported a striking familiar appearance as Freya's. "I made this when I was on the run from Dahlia, remember? I thought if I found Mum in one of her bodies then I could seal her soul in this."

"But Freya said the pendant could only work on the family," Hayley recalled one of the rules.

"This one was specifically designed for Mum's condition. If I was going to seal her in the pendant then the pendant would have to have the ability to take anyone in."

"So this will keep Cami safe?" Klaus asked just to make sure.

Nicolas nodded with certainty. "Her soul will remain in the pendant until we're able to find her another body or bring her original body back to life."

"Thank you," Hayley honestly said, feeling relieved that even if things went south not everyone would have to die with Elijah.

~ 0 ~

Vincent finished smearing Hayley's blood over a silver knife that Marlenie and Marcel were waiting for. "Stainless steel laced with Hayley's blood. Now, you're only gonna get one chance. Make sure you stab Maleny directly in the heart. I assure you, it's not gonna kill her."

"It better not," Marlenie snatched the knife form him, "Because if it does then I will come directly for you."

"It's just gonna drop the Hollow's spirit out of her," Vincent reassured since the woman was still eyeing him like a possible victim. "After the Hollow is out, I'll sacrifice Klaus and put the Hollow away for good."

"Great," Marlenie sourly went to the side.

Marcel understood the woman was not at her best considering she was about to get her mother back but lose her father in the process. That was cold, bad luck. "So it's just one stab, right?"

"Right," Vincent confirmed. "But remember, this thing stole Elijah's blade, which means not only is it wearing your mother's face-" he looked to Marlenie for a second, "-but it's got the weapon that can kill you," he ended with Marcel. "So, if you're not careful with it…"

"Even if I'm careful, I'm in for a fight. I got it," Marcel made it clear that he knew very well what he was getting into.

"Why are you coming with me?" Marlenie asked him once Vincent had left them alone. "I'm way older than you so you can bet I don't need backup."

Marcel gave a small smile. "Because this is how a truce works. You need a distraction and I'm here for it."

Marlenie still eyed him with suspicion. "How do I know that you're not gonna double cross me?"

"Because contrary to the popular belief, any problems I had was with the Mikaelsons, not your mother. If anything, I always felt a little pity for her backstory."

Marlenie shifted in her spot. "Al...right...but just don't let the Hollow one-up you! You heard Vincent, we only get one chance."

Marcel raised one hand to show his promise was sincere. "I got it."

~ 0 ~

Night fell over and as such, each person attended to their distinct tasks. Vincent and Klaus retreated to the cemetery while Marlenie and Marcel went to find the Hollow, and the remaining headed for Elijah's location.

The Hollow was quick at work in the woods, preparing the small altar for her rebirthing ceremony. "Vampires," she called once their presence was known. She raised her gaze from her table to see both Marlenie and Marcel coming forwards. "You're the King-" she pointed at Marcel then moved it to Marlenie, "-and you're one of the children of this body. Did you come here to witness my rebirth or to die trying to stop it?"

"I don't exactly want to fight," Marlenie's expression was grim. "I want to make a deal."

"And what deal did you come to make? Are you here to bow and swear your undying loyalty?"

"Not exactly but I think you'll find my terms alright," Marlenie took out the jawbone that the Hollow had been searching for. "I took this from my family and I'll happily give it to you if you just give me my mother."

The Hollow smirked. "A reasonable request. After all, this body will soon be of no use to me. Fragile little thing."

Marlenie growled. "My mother has lived and died a thousand times so I would rethink that 'fragile' comment!"

Marcel placed a hand on the woman's arm, shaking his head at her. Her words, however, had sparked an interest for the Hollow. Eyes glowing blue, she raised a finger. "A thousand times? Loving and dying? Is that a lie?"

The interest simply could not be for a good thing. Marcel was sure. "Look, we just want the body back. You can take your bone."

A smirk spread across Maleny's face. "A deal it shall be. Perhaps you two are the wiser ones of the flock. I might just let you live when this is over."

Marlenie walked up to the woman, one hand slowly reaching to her back pocket where the enchanted blade was. Marcel attentively watched as Marlenie handed over the jawbone while her other hand danced around the blade. She gripped the blade but that was all.

Marcel knew in that moment Marlenie would never be able to stab her mother in the heart...even when a spirit inhabited the body.

"Such small, frail things, these bones. They eluded me for so long," the Hollow sprinkled something over the four bones. "Now they will serve as the seeds for everything that is to come."

"Sounds like you got big plans," Marcel walked a little forwards to bring Marlenie back to his side.

"For your city? In fact, I do. And why not? I was of this land long before you existed. Imagine spending centuries in the cold, longing to once again feel this soil, to breathe this air, to sweat in the heat of its sun. All that remains is the sacrifice."

Marlenie's eyes were glossy, her rage simmering inside of her. She wanted to do it, but...her hands were frozen.

~ 0 ~

With a new tactic for the location spell, Freya had managed to weed out the cabin holding Elijah.

"I'm curious. Are you aware how pathetic it is, selling your soul to the devil?" she called upon the two witches keeping watch over Elijah.

"How about thinking they could restart a whole curse cycle?" Nicolas came up beside her. "You should know I killed your little Harvest leader."

As the two witches got up to fight, both Cami and Hayley swept in and snapped their necks. After wards, Cami quickly turned to the magical barrier keeping them away from Elijah.

"Freya!"

"We're on it!" Freya pulled Nicolas with her to the barrier and began doing the spell to break the barrier.

"What are you doing?" Elijah groaned his question out. He tried pushing himself up but his hands seemed to have lost their strength.

"You didn't think we were just gonna let you die, did you?" Hayley canvassed the area for anymore potential Hollow followers.

"You have to leave now-"

"Please just save your strength," Cami begged. She got on her knees to at least meet his eye level. "We're going to get you out."

But by this point in time, Elijah had come to terms with his death. He felt his body growing weaker and weaker as time ticked by. Even the pain from the stake on his back had subsided on account of the poison numbing him. "Where is Niklaus?"

Cami shared a look with the others for a minute then answered herself, "Um...he-he's nearby. They're getting Maleny back."

"Cami...I'm sorry," he struggled to raise his head. "You're...your death...is my fault-"

Cami fervently shook her head, ignoring the tears threatening her eyes. "Don't say anything, okay? You're going to be fine and then...and then we can go to that countryside you were telling me about…"

"Manosque," Elijah now barely recalled the place he once loved. He let his head rest over the hard floor. "I'm sorry." His mind was getting tired of thinking and for some reason one of the few things he could still remember clearly was the poem he had introduced to Cami. "The life that I have is all that I have, and the life that I have is yours…"

Cami heard the distinct words of their poem and felt her heart nearly stop. "The love that I have of the life that I have is yours and yours and yours…" the words came out of her mouth before she even realized. She wished desperately to be able to hold his hand at least. If this was their final moment she wanted to feel his fingers around hers once more.

"A sleep I shall have, a rest I shall have. Yet death will be but a pause," Elijah stopped purposely to meet her eyes. In their case, it was a valid point.

If one died, the other would follow in suit no matter what.

~ 0 ~

Marcel had given Marlenie a decent time to get over herself and just stab Maleny, but the woman never did. If she won't do it then…

Before Marlenie knew it, the blade was missing from her pocket and saw Marcel up ahead plunging the enchanted blade through Maleny's heart. The woman gasped and immediately fell back against him.

"MUM!" Marlenie cried and zoomed towards them.

The Hollow grabbed Marlenie's arm, squeezing it with the little force she had left. "I'm going...to kill you both…"

"Mum…" Marlenie's voice shook with fear. Had the blade not worked? She saw blood oozing around the blade, but it seemed like the Hollow was regaining her strength anyways.

And to prove it, the Hollow caused a ripple of wind to throw Marlenie and Marcel to the ground. Maleny's body fell limp to the ground a second later, but a blue light began to emerge behind. With its excessive force, it knocked out the two vampires.

~ 0 ~

Freya's and Nicolas' chanting died when they felt the barrier just vanish. It hadn't been their doing.

"What's happened?" Hayley quickly rushed to them. Cami was the first to realize the barrier was down, and as such she latched onto Elijah's hand.

"She knew were coming," Nicolas whispered and met eyes with Freya before an eerie blue bathed the room.

Klaus swept in just before the same strong force of wind filled the room. Clearly, the sacrifice had failed him. "We have no choice! Get Elijah into the pendant!"

"Cami, c'mon!" Hayley went to retrieve the blonde once the Hollow - in its spirit form - arrived for her prey.

"She's going to kill him!" Cami cried and gripped Elijah's hand. "FREYA!"

Freya met hands with Nicolas and both quickly began to chant the spell to get Elijah into the pendant.

"Cami, please!" Hayley begged from the blonde. Elijah had already released any grip he could have possibly had on her hand, knowing the Hollow was coming for him. Still, Cami refused.

"Camille!" Klaus joined Hayley and between the two hauled the blonde away.

"Klaus, she's killing him!" she screamed.

The Hollow reached out to Elijah, summoning her own rebirth with her spell. Elijah merely tried to raise his hand towards his family, probably the last thing Cami saw through her tears.

"Her magic's trying to blocking us!" Freya exclaimed. "She's too strong!"

"We can...do it!" Nicolas fought against the darkness trying to get at them, defeat them.

The Hollow's piercing scream cut everyone off. A second later, everything died down and the result was a gray-veined Elijah and two still Mikaelson witches.

"Did it work?" Cami quickly moved over to the two. "Tell me it worked!" she frantically waited for one of them to say something.

Freya was the one holding the pendant, but when she opened her palm she revealed it was in pieces and covered in blood.

Cami's breathing was hard, mouth opening but no words able to come out. She didn't even want to think that it...it hadn't worked.

~ 0 ~

Marlenie and Nicolas carefully placed their mother on her bed, neither of them expecting her to wake up anytime soon tonight. Nicolas presumed Maleny's body was now recuperating from the Host it had to accommodate for days and would probably leave Maleny asleep for the rest of the night. Marlenie released a shaky breath as they heard their father's roar from the living room.

Freya simply could not find a trace of Elijah in the broken pendant.

"I hesitated, Nick," Marlenie confessed in a frail whisper, eyes locked on Maleny. "I had an open shot at the Hollow and I couldn't stab her. Marcel had to do it. Do you think that could have helped the Hollow kill uncle Elijah?"

Nicolas settled an arm around his sister's shoulders. "No. This spirit had our every move calculated from the start."

"So now that it's reborn, what plans does it have for us?" Marlenie dreaded to think of the answer to that.

~0~

"Klaus, enough!" Hayley finally managed to level Klaus' voice. He was only putting more pressure on Freya and the witch was just plain exhausted from the day.

"There's just... nothing. There's, there's nothing there," Freya mumbled from her seat. She stared endlessly at the shards of the blue pendant, feeling useless. "I think... I think he's gone."

Cami planted herself beside Freya, pleading for just one more try. "Please. I am asking you just...one more time."

Freya sighed and faced the blonde. "Cami if anything I think we should put you in Nicolas' pendant-"

Cami shook her head. "I still have some time before the sireline dies and catches up to me. And if he's really gone...then I don't want to be in a pendant. So please, try again."

With another sigh, Freya looked down at the pendant. She started the chanting up again, focusing completely on it that she didn't even notice Hope coming inside.

"Go back to bed, sweetie, I'll be there in a second," Hayley tried ushering the girl out but Hope had heard every shout. They were in trouble again.

She shuffled closer to Freya, glancing down at the pendant then lightly touching Freya's shoulder. Almost immediately the two heard the indistinguishable screams of Elijah, muffled in a white scenery.

Freya gasped and looked up with fast, blinking eyes. "Did you see that? Did you feel it?"

Hope nodded, eager to help now. "Uncle Elijah. He sounds so far away, though."

"So he's in there?" Cami's heart hammered in her chest. All was not lost then.

"Yes, I heard him. He's somewhere inside, but...his voice sounds distorted, broken, like radio static," Freya slowly got up from the table. "I just heard... his screaming."

The atmosphere turned dense with the implications of what it meant for Elijah's future, and even that of his only sire in the room.

~0~

His bedroom was dimly lit when Klaus entered, left on no doubt by the twins. He closed the door behind him and turned to the sleeping blonde on the bed. With Elijah's situation, Klaus had yet to see Maleny. But there she laid, motionless, on the bed like nothing ever happened to her.

She still didn't know the Dawsons were back, nor that the Hollow was reborn, or that Elijah was maybe going to die but with his sireline already sentenced to death.

Klaus took off his jacket and crawled onto his side of the bed. He laid down beside Maleny, wishing with everything he had that she would wake up and grace him with her beautiful eyes.

He missed her. So much.

It felt like eons ago that they were together. Coming out of his imprisonment hadn't seemed to do the thing and give them a place to pick up where they left off. Even with the entire world and time at their knees, they couldn't seem to find a moment for them.

He scooted closer to her, wrapping an arm around her to hold her. He needed to hold her and just...know she was there. "Goodnight, Mal," he whispered and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. He closed his eyes and ventured to get some sleep before the next day's trouble called them up again.

A couple hours later, Maleny's left hand fingers twitched over the sheets. Her head looped to the side away from Klaus. Her eyes opened up in a snap and glowed a dreary blue.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Yes, I know I did that, but...I'm sorry? Angst is actually fun to write but that little ending with Klaus & Mal was a bit sweet for me. I hate they haven't been able to spend time together but...this is the Quarter we're talking about and the wicked never rest! So, now Maleny is back but there's still trouble coming up ahead so get ready for more angst ;)

 **For the Reviews:**

Since the three reviews left for the last chapter were basically the same I'll just answer collectively and say thaaaank youuuu for your support and hope you liked this new chapter too! :)


	10. Saving You

The Hollow, now in her original body - a short figure with dark eyes and dark hair - telekinetically raised a witch against a wall. She tilted her head at the struggling witch, a face emotionless despite the dead bodies already behind her. "You lied to me," her voice was calm but laced with terrible darkness. "The sacrifice you want to offer to your ancestors - she's more powerful than you told me. In fact, I felt an inkle of her power and it was far stronger than any coven put together."

The witch in her grasp was choking despite no hands being around her neck. "We-we didn't think it was pertinent-"

The Hollow balled her fist and caused a strong aneurysm in the young witch. She screamed as blood oozed on down from her nose.

" _You_ do not think for _me_. Don't you _ever_ make that mistake." And with a swipe of her arm, the Hollow snapped the woman's neck. She turned around to the rest of the witches, shutting them inside the room with a spell. "I'll have to do my own research by the looks of it."

~0~

 _Come to me...come...come before..._

A flash of Inadu stared at Maleny before she woke up. She felt a strange feeling inside of her that despite blinking awake it didn't seem to quell.

"Maleny?"

Maleny tilted her head up to see Klaus gazing down at her. He was holding her but looked wide awake as ever. Still, he seemed to be cautious as his arms started to loosen around her. Nicolas had mentioned to his father that there would be some sort of consequence from the Hollow like an infection or something, but as far as Klaus could see Maleny looked more like herself.

"Why are you letting go?" she whispered, her voice rather raspy from the long sleep (that she didn't know about) she just had.

"You don't...want to kill me?"

"...what did you do?" Maleny's voice certainly sounded like her old self, the one that really would hurt him if he'd done something bad.

A big smile came to Klaus' face after deciding it was truly her. His arms once again held her tight as he planted a kiss on her head. Maleny's eyebrows knitted together as she wondered what happened. It was then that she realized that she didn't know when she'd gotten into bed...nor how she'd gotten out of that abandoned house.

"What happened?" she eventually asked after taking another moment to really wake up.

"You don't remember?" Klaus figured that much and had thought about how they would explain to Maleny everything that occurred while the Hollow controlled her body.

"I just remembered that creepy house where you and Marcel nearly killed each other," Maleny paused for a moment to think again. A minute later had her eyes widening and her springing upright on the bed. "The Hollow! Oh my God the Hollow was-"

"Mal! You're okay!" Klaus had a hard time getting her to calm down enough to listen to his words. After a minute, he was finally able to grab her arms to keep her still. "You're okay now, I promise."

Maleny looked around the room and noticed a bowl of berries sitting on the night stand. "Did you leave the room and then come back?"

"What?" Klaus followed her gaze to the bowl of berries and playfully rolled his eyes. "Please tell me that is not your biggest concern right now?"

"You know I hate when you do that," she frowned at him. "It means you left me when I was probably the best thing to hold at night."

After everything he'd endured, listening to _that_ made Klaus just _laugh_.

Maleny's glare did nothing to stop him. "Excuse you, do you need to sleep on the couch?" She did, however, reached for a couple of berries from the bowl and dropped them into her mouth.

"I'd rather hold you at night," Klaus took the last berry from her hand and ate it himself. Her glare still didn't fade. He leveled her glare with a simple look of his that studied her features. Without the Hollow invading her, that innocent aura she carried was back. Her eyes - though annoyed at the moment - were bigger and sparkly again. She was _back_.

He leaned forwards and pressed a kiss to her lips.

"You're not out of trouble yet," Maleny warned but the fact she closed her eyes was a sign of the contrary. He captured her lips with another kiss, and another, and another that each turned more heated.

 _Maleny..._

Maleny pulled away from Klaus so suddenly that he nearly fell forwards on her. Maleny's eyes flickered around the room trying to find the source of the voice calling out to her. When she couldn't find it, and she was sure that the voice was a familiar one, she looked at Klaus. "What happened to me?" she demanded the answers fast.

~ 0 ~

To say Maleny was devastated was a complete understatement. She sat and listened to everything Klaus told her about every moment in which the Hollow used her body to commit atrocious acts. She barely kept herself together when he got to the last act...but when he brought her into a silent room where one lone coffin, with its top open, was she couldn't hold it.

One look at Elijah with grey veins broke her into sobs.

"Oh my God! Oh my - _I_ did this! I did this!" Her hands hovered over Elijah as she decided whether or not to touch him. "I _killed_ Elijah. I killed him!"

"Take it easy Mal, we know this wasn't you," Klaus tried to get her away from the coffin but her free hand was gripping the coffin's edge. He shouldn't have brought her there but Maleny was persistent after all.

"But it was _my_ hand that did it! Elijah, I'm so sorry," she cried full tears for the Original who couldn't possibly hear her. "He's always protected us and this is how I repay him?"

"Freya is doing everything she can to bring him back as we speak, love," Klaus held her from behind, her small figure almost retreating in his arms. "This is only temporary."

"Oh my God, Cami!" Maleny exclaimed, eyes nearly popping out from her head. "I killed Cami too!"

"About that, don't worry, we've got another temporary solution," Klaus promised her, and with it he was able to draw her out from the room.

~0~

Downstairs, Freya was putting a small bead bracelet around Cami's wrist. "This should slow down the, uh…"

"My inevitable death?" Cami finished for her, and perhaps it would have been more lighted if it didn't appear like she was struggling to catch her breath.

"You're not dying," Hayley was right beside Cami in this whole ordeal.

"It sure feels like it," Cami rubbed circles over her chest.

"Elijah's sireline is dying as we speak but this bracelet can slow down the effects," Freya promised. "Like when a witch uses her magic to extend her lifetime. It's not curing anything, just...slowing down the disease. Each bead represents a life force energy and once the last one breaks…"

Cami once more nodded in understanding. "It's goodbye."

"That's not gonna happen because once we save Elijah I'm putting you into Nicolas' pendant," Freya assured.

"What will happen to my body?" Cami wondered. "Can you actually...bring me back?"

"With the right level of magic, yeah," Freya's smile was reassuring for the weakened Cami who seemed more focus on her breath. Hayley, however, was more tuned in. There was something Freya was keeping back.

Cami flinched as the first bead of her bracelet cracked and fell to the floor in pieces. "Guess we better get started," Freya resolved and headed to the table with the broken shards of her pendant. She had drawn a chalk circle with mystical symbols in order to conduct the spell.

"Cami?" they heard Maleny's voice. A second later the blonde woman was inside and rushing towards her cousin. "Cami, I'm so sorry!" Cami hugged Maleny back tightly, thankful that at least in all this they had managed to bring her back. "Klaus told me what I-I did and-"

Cami stopped her with a shake of her head. "You didn't do anything. It was that evil Hollow bitch. She planned everything."

"Still, I...I want to help," Maleny looked at the others, including Klaus and Nicolas who joined them. "The Hollow owes me."

"Well, if it's revenge you seek, dear Mal, then we are going to have a lovely time together," Rebekah strode in with Kol at her side. "We always did make a perfect team."

"I'm sorry," Maleny felt the need to apologize to the entire family for the actions committed with her body. "I-I should have been stronger and kept her back. It's my fault she got an upperhand and..." she glanced at Cami with fresh tears in her eyes, "...now Elijah's stuck in some pendant and you're dying too."

"Mum," Nicolas walked over and hugged his mother tight. "None of it was your fault, you should know that."

"Don't let the Hollow bring you down, Mal. It's our job to out _it_ down," Kol smirked. Maleny found him completely in the impossible that he still had enough energy to joke.

"Please tell me we're on our way to getting Elijah back?" Rebekah moved up to Freya's table.

"Working on it," Freya was tired of repeating. "And in the meanwhile you all have your own assignments."

"Yes we do," agreed Klaus who was all too happy to get things moving. "We need to destroy the weapons that give our enemy their advantage. One scratch from the rosebush is lethal to us."

"And aunt Freya and I have already tracked them down for you," Nicolas motioned the lot of vampires to gather around the table. He directed them to a map with several drops of blood. "In total there are eight that remain, including the main plant. Here, in the Ninth Ward."

"Fine, so we burn them all and then we murder that wretched bitch," Rebekah spat.

"Exactly my thoughts," Maleny muttered.

"Lethal thorns, resurrected witches... what could possibly go wrong am I right?" Kol sarcastically waited for the answer from anyone.

"Oh uncle Kol-" Marlenie joined the gathering, smirking when Kol dramatically went 'oh no' at her presence, "-you _know_ you should never ask that question in this family."

Kol continued with his dramatics as he turned to Klaus. "I will do whatever you want, kill whoever, just don't pair me up with _her_."

"Well lucky for you I don't consider you two paired up together our best chance of getting the thorns," Klaus said, though smirking like his daughter, "You'll probably be at each other's throats anyways."

"However you do it, do it fast," Nicolas warned them that time was of the essence.

With that, they each separated in pairs with the last one being Rebekah going in search of Marcel for some back up. That was no surprise, everyone thought but no one said out loud.

"Mum, you should take it easy," Marlenie warned before she had to go too. She hugged Maleny just as tightly as Nicolas had. "And Dad will make sure that you do."

"Not if he knows what's good for him," Maleny meant that literally and side-glanced Klaus to make sure he understood. Elijah was close to death and Cami was well on her way too so there was no way in hell she would be 'taking it easy'. "Let's go," she started leaving first.

"I will do my best," Klaus said to Marlenie before following Maleny.

"Freya…" Cami's shaky voice drew the woman along with Hayley and Nicolas. A second bracelet bead had just crumbled to the ground.

"We have to move fast," Freya motioned Nicolas to start the spell on his end.

"How are you going to find him?" asked Hayley, intently watching Freya enter the chalk ring. "Well I don't know yet, but since his mind shattered with the pendant, he's most likely retreated to the innermost core of his consciousness. It could be anywhere in over a thousand years of memories."

"And you think you can pull this off?"

Freya paused just as she sat down inside the ring. "I don't know. I've never actually tried this before."

"Freya, there are a thousand years of memories in there. How will you know which is the right one?" Cami wondered, worried this would become an impossible task before it even started.

"He'll recognize me. If I can find the core of his being or whatever memory he's clinging to, I'll pull him out," Freya gave her a reassuring smile. "Nicolas?"

"I'm ready, aunt Freya," Nicolas held his hands out and began to chant the spell as Freya laid down on the ground and closed her eyes. "Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz…"

When Freya eye-opened her eyes, she found herself inside a crisp white hallway...lined with dozens and dozens of doors.

~0~

Whilst Klaus preferred to give an easy, fast surprise attack to the witches, Maleny thought it best to tread with caution. After all, the Hollow could very well give her followers upgraded powers. However, the closer they got to the infirmary, the more scent they picked up of…

"Blood? I smell blood," Maleny crinkled her nose.

"Maybe someone's done us the job already," Klaus walked on past her into the infirmary. Inside he got sight of the multiple dead corpses on the floor. Many of them were young.

"What in the hell…?" Maleny walked in behind him, gaping at the scene before them. "These are all...children…"

"Mal…" Klaus called as she started nearing one of the corpses. He was sure these were mostly of the Dawson bloodline.

"They're dead, Klaus, look," Maleny brushed some hair from a young girl with dried blood on her face. "Slaughtered yet no vampire marks on them. Do you think the Hollow did this?" Klaus was more than 100% sure this was all the Hollow. Maleny straightened on her feet and kept wandering through the room, eyes keen on the corpses. "I don't understand this thing. She raises followers and then massacres them as soon as she's reborn? She's vicious on a whole other level."

"Let's just find the thorns and get out of here," Klaus set to search. He didn't want Maleny anywhere near Dawsons, even dead ones.

Maleny agreed and started searching for the thorns. In the silence of their search, she began to hear distant whispers. For a moment she thought it was one of the corpses that perhaps wasn't all that dead, but as she stopped to look around she saw the dead...dead. No one was making a sound, and yet…

 _Find me_.

She whirled around, coming face to face with a small pile of bodies against the wall. As she studied its posture, it appeared to her like they had been _purposely_ stacked.

 _Find me_.

She blinked. There was definitely a voice and it was definitely coming from that pile of corpses. And by the fact Klaus was still searching like nothing, the voice was only talking to her. She zipped up to the bodies and started moving them apart. As she reached for one body, a ripple of magic zapped the inside of her head. Her scream immediately pulled Klaus from his search. She clapped her hands over her head, feeling the aneurysm incrementing.

Before Klaus knew it, the same spell landed on him. Through their pain, they twisted towards the entrance when they heard people coming in. To their misfortune, it was a flock of witches.

"Get that one," one of them, a brunette man, nodded to Maleny. "And be quick about it. The Hollow can find us quick."

Three of their flock started towards Maleny who, despite her state, shot them confused eyes. Klaus wasn't on the same pain level. With amber-eyes, he growled and zipped towards the three, snapping their necks without hesitation.

"Running from the Hollow now?" he caught the brunette's order just fine. On some level, it satisfied him to know the Hollow was now coming for them too.

The brunette glared and balled a fist, once again causing the anyeurism to strike Klaus again. "It wants her now thanks to your daughter's indiscretion. And we won't let that happen. She's _our_ sacrifice."

Now Maleny understood no part of this but once she heard 'sacrifice' her ears opened up, her entire body pushed her to get up from there and fight. She fought the pain for as long as she could and swept towards the brunette warlock, throwing him over the bar. " _What_ sacrifice?" her voice was a roar.

"Yours sweetheart," a witch snuck up on her and telekinetically slammed her to the ground. "Don't you know yet?"

Immediately, Maleny's eyes found Klaus and narrowed. "Klaus - what the hell are they talking about?"

Instead of answering her, he moved to take care of the nuisance. He reached out and snatched a nearby witch to break. With amber-eyes he growled and sped towards the flock.

"Distractions won't help you!" Maleny called out to him. She kicked a leg backwards and broke the witch's leg who was keeping her down. She jumped to her feet and grabbed a stool, throwing it at the flock to see which ones she would get. "Why do you people want to sacrifice me!?"

"Because you're owed to us!" someone from the flock instantly responded with, taking her aback. "Our family owned you for a thousand years because you gave yourself up to us."

Maleny was frozen to her spot, practically, as her mind raced to the last memory of those words. "No...you couldn't be…"

Her distraction was a wide open window for the opposing side. Her scream bellowed throughout the room once more. What were these witches made of that they gave aneurysms on a whole other level? Oh, well...she was sure she had the answer to that.

Klaus dropped his recent victim and moved on over to snap the neck of the witch hurting Maleny. Then, he went for the last remaining warlock - the brunette man.

"They're Dawsons!" Maleny shouted after him, making him wince for the first time in that attack. "How the hell are they here!?"

"That's what happens when we age out of the foster care, Rowan," the brunette man spat before Klaus grabbed him by the neck and pinned him against the wall.

"Last words?" the hybrid asked more out of courtesy than interest.

The brunette man laughed for a couple seconds but when Klaus gave a violent shake of his body he was forced to stop. "You're delirious if you think we're the last ones. We're out there, waiting for the right moment to sneak up and…" he made a cutting motion across his neck. "We'll beat the Hollow to you-"

"Dawsons paired up with the Hollow...great…" Maleny was ashamed to show actual fear for these people, but memories of the thousand lives she was forced to live and die in started surfacing in her mind.

"You _should_ be scared," the brunette spat at her. "You don't get to win. You made a promise and we intend on keeping it-"

Klaus rolled his eyes and swiftly snapped the man's neck. "We're done here."

But Maleny had other plans. She grabbed a piece of a broken stool's leg and threw it directly at him. " _When_ were you planning on telling me the Dawsons were back!?" she frantically shouted.

Klaus had caught the stool leg and gave it a languid twirl between his hand. "I didn't think it necessary to inform you when it wasn't pertinent-"

"IT WAS!" Maleny was almost red on the face from her anger and frustration. "Those people are the descendants of the people who _cursed_ me for a _thousand_ years, Klaus! Did you forget that!? Now they've paired up with the Hollow to get me _again_!"

"They're not going to touch you," Klaus let the stool leg drop as he walked up to her. He reached to touch her face, barely stroking her cheek before she turned away from him. "Mal-"

"They cursed me. A thousand years. Never knowing who the hell I was - only living and dying over and over...and over…" her voice shook with utter fear, "And over…"

"Maleny, this isn't the same anymore-"

"No, it's not. It's actually _worse_. They've paired up with the Hollow-"

"And the Hollow's killing them," Klaus gestured to the corpses around them. "They were the lackeys of their own bloodline. Now I imagine whoever is left of them are even lower in the scale. We can take them out, love, no problem."

Maleny glanced over her shoulder, somewhat unsure. "They scare me. They shouldn't, but they do. Just...just the thought of being...sacrificed-" she shut her eyes, "-it…" she shuddered a breath. Flashes of the knife itself started invading her mind.

Klaus wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. "They'll be gone before you know it. This time I will not make the same mistake."

"It's not on you. We'll just need to be smart in how to end them," Maleny intook a breath. "Now just tell me, is there anything else I need to know?"

For a minute, Klaus wondered if keeping shut about other things would lead to the same results - he wasn't keen on being thrown stool legs. "Well, Nicolas killed the leader of the renewed Dawsons and I'm pretty sure he stashed the Harvest Girls somewhere in the compound-"

"What?" Maleny blinked and pulled away from his arms. "He did what!?"

"I congratulated him on his stealth-"

"Klaus!"

"It was Luka and I fairly think you shouldn't be that upset by his demise," Klaus made the wrong move when he gave hints of jealousy.

"Don't make me throw you something else," she warned with a jabbing finger on his chest. "Anything else you want to tell me?"

"...the Ancestors are back-"

"Are you-" Maleny ceased talking and instead opted to take in another breath to calm herself down. "Please, for the love of God, tell me that's it."

With a big grin on his face, Klaus nodded. "It's everything."

Maleny still shook her head at him. It shamed her to think this was actually the family's way of acting.

 _Find me_.

She froze again, her head snapping in the stack of bodies against the wall, the same ones she'd been interrupted dismantling.

~ 0 ~

Cami watched as the fourth of her bracelet beads turned to dust before it even hit the floor. With a sigh, she rubbed her wrists and returned her gaze to Freya's unconscious figure in the ring barrier.

"How are you doing?" Hayley bent down beside the woman's chair.

"Um...okay, I think?" Cami peered around her legs and saw the visible trace of gray veins crawled up her skin. "Is that supposed to happen?"

"I think so," Hayley answered since Nicolas was still deep in the spell keeping Freya inside the pendant. "Freya said this thing is only slowing down the process."

"Oh great, another clock," Cami muttered and tried pulling her dress' bottom further down her knees.

Suddenly, they heard Freya's sharp gasp just as the woman woke up. Nicolas quickly dashed to her, helping her get up. "Aunt Freya, what happened?"

"I - there's too many doors," Freya rubbed her sweaty forehead. "It's a lot of power for a witch, I...I'm not sure I can find him if I continue to search randomly."

"Then maybe you need to send someone else," Hayley suggested, of course intending on volunteering herself for the job...but Cami beat her to it.

"I can do it," the blonde got up from her chair, slightly rocky on her feet for the first couple of seconds.

It was still enough to make Hayley feel the need to be her support. "Cami, are you serious? No offence...but you're _dying_!"

"Yeah, I know, I was there," Cami gave her a weak smile before addressing the two Mikaelson mortals. "There's a thousand doors but I bet I can find him. I think I'm closest to him next to Klaus."

"Cami, sending you in would require a lot more magic and...honestly, I don't think you would make it in and out of the pendant," Freya eyed the woman's weakened posture.

"Aunt Freya's right," Nicolas gave a nod of his head. "The force of the spell would speed up your death, Cami. I have to put you inside my pendant before the last bead of your bracelet falls." He eyed the number of beads still clinging to Cami's wrist, counting six in total. "I think you have maybe...thirty? Forty minutes the most."

"Forty minutes is enough," Cami said determinedly as she neared the ring barrier.

Since there seemed to be no point in arguing with her, Freya took her inside the barrier and instructed her to lay down. Nicolas, against his better judgement, returned to the table to prepare the spell once again.

"Remember Cami," Freya said just as she was getting back on her feet, "The core of Elijah's being has retreated deep into his subconscious. There are too many memories for you to randomly search. You have to think, where would Elijah find refuge? It has to be somewhere that represents the fundamental basis of who he is. Hopefully, that's a good place. When you find it, draw him out and wake him up. But be careful, his mind is unstable."

"Get in, find Elijah, draw him out, don't die, and wake him up," Cami sucked in a deep breath. "I can do it." And yet her heart still hammered with fear.

Freya hurried to be by Nicolas' side. The two joined hands and began to the spell once again.

Cami felt a force of gravity pin her down, forcing her to close her eyes. The next time she opened them, she was inside a white hallway covered in doors...and doors...and doors…

"Oh boy," Cami rubbed her wrist. She eyed the beads, the fifth one was beginning to crack. Time was truly of the essence.

She walked down the corridor, her boot heels making the only sound in the place. She swallowed hard. This was too creepy. Too quiet. She stopped by one door, finding that it looked just like any ordinary door. Well, she had to start somewhere and maybe...just maybe she could have some luck.

She turned the knob and walked in, peering in first for caution. She recognized almost instantly the safe house she and Elijah once stayed at for Hope's (and Elijah's) sake. Soon, she began to hear voices carrying out.

"Am I? It's no use to lie, Camille. I saw your face - you were terrified. And justly so…"

Cami quietly walked into the room, finding herself and Elijah conversing. She remembered this moment all too well.

"...I didn't want you here because I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want you to see me like this. I am not the noble man you think I am - not the one anyone thinks I am."

The younger version of Cami merely smiled. She moved over to Elijah and put her hands on his face. "Hey, I like you because you're you. I'm not here for the noble stag title, I'm here because you're my friend and I want you to get better. I'm pretty sure everyone else thinks the same. And I get it, I get that you're dealing with things I have no idea about. But if you ever want to talk about it... It's kind of what I do, It can even be over a game of chess if you'd like. But fair warning, you will have to let me win that game or else…"

Elijah chuckled at her, taking her hands from his face and keeping them in his own. "I believe that sounds fair enough."

The present Cami smiled at the memory, but her smile turned sad when she felt - in her gut - that this was not the refuge Elijah sought out. This was one mere memory. "Elijah?" she still decided to call out, just to see what would happen. Unsurprisingly, her call made no effect, and with that she left the memory.

~ 0 ~

"I can't find the wretched thorns," Klaus growled in frustration after turning over the bar counter itself.

Maleny was confused, honestly. Before she had reached the stack of corpses, Klaus had thrown them to the sides and found nothing. There was nothing but dust and spiders and Maleny was fairly sure spiders weren't the ones beckoning her to the owner of the voice.

"Okay, let's just...let's just split up to cover more ground," she ultimately decided. "Rebekah called and said they cleared the Quarter so there's still one in Gentilly. Go find that one and I will stay here and search for the stake."

"Mal, we need to stay together. It's what the Hollow wants from us. She wants us divided," Klaus said with utmost certainty. It was a good tactic - one he employed in the past - but this time it wouldn't go that way.

"And we don't have time to continue dilly-dallying," Maleny gave him a small smile. "I'll be fine. We cleared some Dawsons here and if it's true what you said, the remaining ones are probably hiding from the Hollow."

With a sigh, Klaus gave in. Still, he began to caution her. "You see _one_ Dawson - I don't bloody care if they're twelve years old, you _leave_."

Maleny chuckled. "I solemnly swear. I don't think I can kill a child."

"And they would know that," Klaus meant as another warning.

"I know-"

"-so don't even-"

"-I _know_ ," Maleny laughed again. She leaned on her toes to press a kiss to his lips. "I'll see you in a bit."

Though weary, Klaus found no other option but to leave her there.

Once alone, Maleny turned to the spiders where the voice originated from. "I really hope it's not the spiders calling to me. That's the last thing I need," she whispered.

~ 0 ~

"Now uncle Kol, what are you doing out here?" Marlenie only momentarily froze Kol in the middle of his search down in the compound dungeon.

"The Harvest Girls, where the hell are they?" Kol soon got over his surprise of being caught and went straight to demanding. He knew the Ancestors were back and that meant Davina was too.

Marlenie crossed her arms at her uncle. "You want to speak to her don't you?" it was why she hurriedly got rid of their last share of the thornbush stakes. Rebekah warned Marlenie to keep an eye on Kol. He was desperate to make contact with Davina. It was practically 90% of his vocabulary when they were in their Chambre de Chasse.

"Well, what do you think, sweetheart?" Kol admonished and continued looking through the dungeon room. "Making a somewhat deal with any witches in the Quarter is never happening and I doubt Nicolas nor Freya would ever do me the solid of linking me to the dead even for five minutes so searching for lost Harvest Girls seems like the only way to go."

Marlenie actually felt sympathetic for him in that moment. This didn't seem like an ordinary scheme of his, it was for...someone he loved. And despite Marlenie's personal feelings towards Davina Claire, Kol was family. "Uncle Kol, even if you found the Harvest Girls you still need a witch to link you to the dead. You might as well just gambled on luck and directly have asked one."

"Well I don't have the bloody options do I!?" the Original shouted at her. "Everyone in this family loves to forget how wrong we did Davina!"

Marlenie sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Maybe when Nick is done helping aunt Freya...he can help you."

Kol scoffed. "Bloody likely."

"Don't think so. See, Nick was the one who made a deal with Davina years ago, he's the one that got close to her, along with Mum. So…" Marlenie walked towards him, "...if you just give us the day to help uncle Elijah, Cami and find the thorns...maybe there's something we can do to help you."

Kol scrutinized his niece for any possible trick. As far as he knew, she hated Davina - whether alive or dead it was just hatred. "Why would you help?"

"Because if it was family I'd want the same thing," Marlenie gave a shrug of his shoulders.

~ 0 ~

Cami watched the sixth bead of her bracelet fall to the porcelain, white floor. "C'mon, Elijah, show me something…" she whispered frantically. She had gone through several doors already, each of them holding memories that didn't turn out to be Elijah's retreated refuge. She was running out of time and frankly, so was he.

She neared an intersection in the hallway where the sounds of violent screams started carrying over. She peered into the corridors until she spotted the only brightly colored - and different - door in the entire place. A small gasp slipped through her lips, but before she knew it, her feet were rushing towards the door.

The _red_ door.

"Oh no," Cami closed her eyes and leaned on the wooden door. The red door was something Elijah hadn't spoken about in years, apart from the years he spent asleep. This had to be the door. The red door was the deepest part of Elijah, whether he liked it or not. It was where he hid his most atrocious acts, and his deepest regrets.

 _Let me be brave_ , Cami took in a deep breath. If this was where Elijah was, then it meant he had reverted to a vampire who responded to his most primal urges: bloodshed. With a shaky hand, Cami opened the door and was met with darkness.

Swallowing hard, she walked inside, leaving the door open to illuminate whatever the place was. She could see various corpses on the ground with a glimmer of blood piling up. Then, she heard the distinct sound of feeding. It was definitely someone feeding.

"Elijah?" she called, her voice unintentionally shaky.

The feeding stopped.

"Elijah? I'm here to help you," Cami saw a figure rise in the corner. As it came towards her, the moon from outside - if it was even a real moon - shed some light on them. Cami clapped a hand over her mouth when she saw Elijah covered in blood. "Okay, Elijah, it's time to wake up."

But Elijah only stared at her like she was his next prey.

Cami gulped. "Elijah, I said it's time to wake up!" She jumped backwards when he took an exceptionally large step towards her. "The red door doesn't control you! Don't let it - ah!" her back hit the wall when he almost lunged at her. "Elijah I swear to God - stop!"

Since Elijah kept coming towards her, Cami felt like the right thing to do was to _run_. She bolted out the cabin, venturing into the woods she thought couldnt' be less fake but apparently they were real enough to enact a chase.

~ 0 ~

Maleny felt she was reaching anger on a Klaus level. The irony was he wasn't even there to see it. She had searched - ransacked - the entire place for the stupid voice and she couldn't find it. The thorns were teasing her.

"Okay listen to me whatever you are that's calling me!" she shouted at the room. "If you want me to find you then give me a clue!" she stomped her boot on the ground and nearly got it stuck. She pulled her shoe back and saw she'd left a hole underneath.

It was then that the light bulb in her head went off.

She sped up to the original place where she'd heard the voice, where the mantle of corpses had been, and she stared at the ground. She then stomped her foot as hard as she could through the floor. Dropping to her knees she peered into the small hole and grinned.

There was a thorn-covered stake tucked inside. She carefully reached a hand inside and pulled it out of there. She examined the stake with a proud grin.

 _Find me_.

The voice made her freeze. She quickly looked around the room but the voice called again. Her blue orbs landed on the stake again and while she couldn't see it at the moment, she was sure there was something even more wicked within the stake that was beckoning her like this.

~ 0 ~

Cami had made a full circle around the woods - at least that's what it looked like now that she was seeing the cabin again. She had actually fought Elijah for survival this time and it broke her heart she couldn't bring him out of this state. Even after that amazing flip she gave him, not even the hit of the head brought him back.

Her seventh bead had just been crushed under her running feet and she was sure the eighth was soon to follow. She barely made a step into the cabin when Elijah cut her off again.

"The red door doesn't control you!" she frantically shouted, finger pointed at him.

Elijah made no such move that indicated he'd even heard her words. He grabbed her by the neck and slammed her down on a rusty, wooden table. He lowered his head, sniffing the side of her neck despite her struggle to get free.

"There's no point in telling you not to since you don't even acknowledge me!" she shouted and tried kicking him. "But _c'mon_!"

Elijah grabbed both of her hands, locking them in just one of his. His eyes darkened to that vampire instinct. Cami heard the crack of her eight bracelet bead and knew it was just minutes from falling off.

Perhaps this was how it would all end.

Cami shut her eyes and without realizing began to murmur the very poem that had once brought her and Elijah some happiness amidst their problems.

' _The life that I have_

 _Is all that I have_

 _And the life that I have_

 _Is yours.'_

Elijah paused just beside her neck, but she didn't notice with her closed eyes she continued on.

' _The love that I have_

 _Of the life that I have_

 _Is yours and yours and yours.'_

Elijah raised his head, meeting her scrunched face. His vamp-eyes had faded.

' _A sleep I shall have_

 _A rest I shall have_

 _Yet death will be but a pause.'_

When it finally registered to Cami that she had not felt any painful bites she slowly opened one eye, though still with fear. Elijah was staring back at her, the familiarity returning to him.

' _For the peace of my years_

 _In the long green grass_

 _Will be yours and yours and yours.'_

Cami released a breath after Elijah had spoken. He was self aware and for that matter he backed off. Cami straightened up and, just for caution, inched towards the door leading back into the hallway.

"Camille?" he realized where he was, what was around them, and most importantly the fear in her eyes.

"It's...it's you…?" the blonde's back was now against the hallway door. "R-right?"

Elijah couldn't say 'yes' until he remembered everything, but even then with his restrain Cami knew enough. She opened the door behind her and backtracked into the hallway, hoping he would follow. It took him a couple of minutes, but eventually Elijah followed into the hallway and came out in his usual attire and appearance.

"Oh thank God," Cami put a hand over her chest.

"Please forgive me," the words paled to what Elijah felt at the moment. Despite the fear in her eyes subsiding, it didn't take away what he almost did.

She shook her head, eyes glossy with looming tears. "The red door doesn't control you," she said with a sad smile. "Please remember that always." Elijah made to reach for her but at the last minute went against it. Cami still kept her smile and walked back to him, taking his hand into both of hers.

"I'm sorry," he said with full shame.

Cami nodded and looked up at him. "Freya's going to fix the pendant and they'll put you back in your body soon."

It was then that it registered to Elijah her unexplained presence. He saw her legs and her arms were garnering that gray vein appearance of a...dead vampire. "How...how are…" but he stopped when he witnessed the eight bracelet bead around her wrist fall and crumble to the floor. He tilted his head, raising her hand with her bracelet.

"Nicolas and Freya made it slow down my, um...death," Cami gave a meek shrug, adding before he panicked, "They'll be putting me inside Nicolas' pendant right after this. Actually…" she eyed the ninth bracelet bead that was already cracking. "Nicolas said I had be back before the tenth bead falls off."

"And yet you risked your life to come fetch me inside this...my personal hell?" Elijah lowered her hand, gripping it hard. "Camille I would never want that. And after what...what happened...I don't deserve it."

"I don't care," she shrugged, smiling despite her eyes blurring up with tears. "I know you're not innocent. No one in this family is. You never hid the red door from me and I never pretended you were anyone else. I know who you are and I love you. And anytime you go behind that door-" she nodded to the red door behind them, "-I will go in and get you out. Every time."

Elijah searched her face for any doubt. The fact there wasn't any made him feel even more guilty. She would be there for him until the end of time if it came to that. Without a word, he pulled her to him for a kiss. It pained both of them that this was a goodbye kiss despite the win of today.

"Listen to me," Elijah kept one hand cupping her face while the other held her by the waist, "I don't care what it takes but I am bringing you back. I don't care the deals I have to make, I _will_ bring you back and we'll go-"

"To Manosque," Cami finished with a hopeful smile. Her eyes met his and shared the same hope.

"To Manosque," Elijah agreed. He saw the ninth bracelet bead crack in half and knew it was time for her to go. "I'll get you back, I promise."

Cami nodded, smiling as strong as she could for him. "See you later," she even said. When the ninth bracelet bead hit the floor, she was gone.

Elijah looked over his shoulder to the blasted red door.

~0~

On the outside, Cami gasped awake and sat upright. She looked at herself and saw she was almost covered in gray veins. "Freya…" her voice had gone raspy too. "It's safe now!"

"Nicolas, the pendant!" Hayley quickly motioned the man to do the spell. "The last bead is breaking!"

Nicolas grabbed his red pendant and rushed to Cami, quickly explaining what would happen to her. "You'll be safe albeit a little lonely but perfectly alive! Aunt Freya and I are going to preserve to your body so that later we can put you back in it."

"Thank you," was all Cami could say to them. "And if it doesn't work-"

"It will," Freya assured as she came to join them for the spell.

"But if it doesn't," Cami insisted, "Don't let Elijah fall back into the red door." But of course no one would know the meaning of that. "And tell Mal, that...she was my best cousin ever." She added with a smile, bittersweet the blonde woman wasn't around yet. She looked at Hayley with the same smile. "And thanks Hayley for being my friend and...family."

Hayley really hated that her eyes were getting ready. "We'll see you really soon."

"Aunt Freya we have to do this now," Nicolas urgently said.

Cami closed her eyes and listened to the Latin words of the spell that would soon cast her into a blissful area of nothing.

~0~

Maleny's eyes reflected the fireplace flames that had ignited when she'd thrown in the thornbush stake. She needed to make sure every last thorn crumbled into nothing. Just when she was about to get up from the floor, she spotted one measly little thorn had rolled away from the fireplace. She picked it up and was about to flick it back into the fire when she heard the voice again.

 _Find me quick. Find me now._

Her eyes glowed that eerie bright blue again and for the briefest of seconds, she saw the image of Inadu staring back at her from God knew where. Maleny released a breath after the image was gone. She quickly threw the thorn into the fireplace and thought about what she'd seen.

The Hollow was calling out to her. Maleny closed her eyes for a moment to get herself together. Her heart was already broken knowing Elijah and Cami were sealed away in pendants because of her. A couple Dawsons were still creeping around the Quarter, though hiding from the Hollow apparently.

"Mal?"

Maleny quickly gathered herself and got up from the floor. She turned to Klaus and immediately saw the small box he was holding. Curious, she inched towards him. "What's that?"

Klaus was amused with her slow walking. "It's for you. I thought you might want something to... distract yourself from today."

"I appreciate the thought," she smiled sadly once they were face to face. "But I sort of lost my cousin today and I didn't even get to say goodbye."

"Freya and Nicolas will bring her back," he held the box to her, motioning for her to open it. "There is no doubt in my mind."

Maleny couldn't help herself and took the box into her hands. She opened the lid and immediately started chuckling of what was inside. "The shop still exists?" she tore her gaze from the delicious-smelling blueberry pie she used to love from the Quarter.

"Up and running," Klaus nodded. He loved her reaction; it was what mainly drove him to find the shop again after so many years. Blueberry pie was her favorite.

Maleny threw her free arm around his neck, hugging him tight. "Thank you for thinking about me even through all this."

"I could never stop," Klaus admitted, dropping a kiss to her hair. He brought her to the couch to sit down, but noticed the unusually excited flames from the fireplace. "Am I to assume you found the last stake, then?"

Maleny decided to skip the whole journey of how she found the stake and just nodded her head. "You know what they say, men can never find anything." She picked up a fork inside the box and quickly carved out a bite-sized piece of the pie. The moment she started to chew she moaned. "It's still so _good_!"

Klaus laughed at her and reached to take off some piece from her face. "I suppose you'd like this at the wedding?"

Maleny didn't think twice and nodded her head. "I hadn't even considered it. Actually, I haven't exactly thought much about it…" she gazed sadly at her engagement ring.

"It seems our time together has been very limited," Klaus agreed with a small sigh. It'd been all about stopping the Hollow here and saving Elijah there...it felt like everyday was a rush where their only moments together were those just before sleeping and just after waking up.

"I know Marlenie said she had an idea for a wedding dress…" Maleny said, now wishing she'd seen said designs. "But that's as far as I know. I don't like the feeling of...drifting apart."

"We are never drifting apart, love. Ever," Klaus scooted closer to her, making sure to put her pie box on the coffee table. He wrapped his arms around her and tugged her closer to him. "We just have the annoying talent of drawing enemies to us like magnets."

Maleny chuckled and looped her arms around his neck. "You more than me. All my enemies belong to the same family. I've only pissed them off. You could take a leaf out of my book."

"Oh, really?" Klaus mused on that one and tried not to laugh. "Or people could just stop being so annoying. I like my idea better."

"You need help you egotistical, moody hybrid," Maleny giggled at his offended expression and settled it with a small kiss. "And I would love nothing more than to marry this egotistical, moody hybrid in front of me. After Cami and Elijah are back."

Klaus couldn't agree more. He raised her chin with a finger and kissed her again. He loved her berry-tasting lips and couldn't think of anyone else he could fathom the idea of marrying.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

So yeah, our Mal is back but with a couple of problems my poor girl :/. We'll see what happens with that Hollow calling out to her! And honestly I never liked Haylijah but the fact Hayley basically acted like she never thought about who Elijah really was never made sense. I didn't want that for Cami and Elijah here so I went with this. I hope it made sense! :)

 **For the Reviews** :

For the guest reviews, I diiiiiiiid it and updated it! Hope you like the chapter! :)

 **petrovamikaelson** : I never considered writing a Cami/Elijah fanfic mostly because of the plot, but who knows maybe later on I'll get one! I'd definitely let you know! :)

 **rosmonibon** : Yup, our Cami's definitely not dead! She's just...sleeping for a while! ;)


	11. A Bond to Save

Freya examined the blue pendant Elijah's soul was stored in, the worry creasing her forehead while her fingers brushed over the small cracks on the stone. Around her stood the rest of the family, minus Kol, waiting to her the inevitable bad news. "Despite the spell I cast, the very integrity of the pendant is growing unstable. It won't be able to hold Elijah's soul much longer. We need to find a way to resurrect him tonight, or we could lose him forever. To do that, we'll need more power."

"Let me guess, a grand sacrifice," Klaus mused on the irony that always fell over them.

"Aunt Freya and I can do the sacrifice but it's just the matter on _what_ we sacrifice that matters," Nicolas said while his aunt continued to examine the pendant. He knew Freya was exhausted from all this fight and, to be honest, so was he.

"So if we use the Hollow's death, can we use it to bring Elijah _and_ Cami back?" Maleny inquired as soon as silence had fallen.

Once again, Hayley recognized Freya's secretive face. The blonde witch had turned away from them with the excuse of putting down her pendant on the table. "Freya?" Hayley called, not about to let this continue on. "What's the matter? You guys can bring back Cami, right?"

Nicolas' eyebrows raised upwards, apparently he was in the loop as well. Marlenie eyed her brother with squinted eyes, fairly curious of what was being kept from them all.

"What's the matter, brother?"

Freya turned around and leaned against the table for some support. "The Hollow would suffice as a sacrifice to bring back Elijah…"

Maleny's nod was a motion for Freya to also add in her cousin's name, but the witch never did. Maleny straightened up, rolling her finger in the air, "And…?"

With a sigh, Freya shook her head. "Elijah is an Original and he's lived for…"

"Eons, yeah, I was there," Maleny quickly cut the witch off, " _And_?"

"The Hollow's sacrifice would deplenish after I put it towards Elijah's soul."

Hayley moved to join Maleny on that defensive, offended stance. And they were pretty good at intimidation.

Klaus cleared his throat and settled a sharp look on his sister. "Freya, this is the part where you tell them you have another plan for Camille."

"I...don't," Freya admitted.

"It's not that we don't want to bring back Cami it's just...it's a bit more complicated than that," Nicolas quickly stepped in to defend his aunt. Although now he was earning his mother's glare and that was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

"Elijah is a frikin Original - that's complicated!" Maleny practically shouted at the two.

"Bringing back Cami is a more different challenge in that we would have to strive to bring back a previously sired vampire as a _non-sired_ vampire now," Nicolas explained. "The magic is a far stronger one that aunt Freya and I are capable of."

"Fine, then we call in backup," Hayley quickly suggested. "Vincent? Hell, even Amarrah would get her coven to help us."

"This is a different type of resurrection," Freya spoke quietly. "Remember Kol's resurrection? Something along those lines except for an unsired heart being a requirement."

"So that's it, then? We just put a pause on Cami's return?" Maleny demanded to know, though a good part of her warned her she was being unfair. There was no doubt in her mind that the family would do anything to bring Cami back, but it was frustrating that it was so complicated.

"I tried calling Kol but he's not answering," Rebekah strolled in with her cellphone still in hand. "So how are we doing on our plan to murder this Hollow?" she took one look at the tension filled room and groaned. "What now?"

Maleny shook her head and stormed out of the room.

"Did I say something?" Rebekah was left to cluelessly wonder.

"Freya, do something please," Klaus unnaturally pleaded with their sister. This wasn't the time to be divided - in fact it seemed like the perfect tactic the Hollow would employ on them if given the chance.

"We can transfer Elijah back into his body with the Hollow - that I am sure," the woman began again. "Labonair blood is her Achilles' heel. Now, Hayley, your blood weakened her, but you've technically been dead for years. So it won't be strong enough to kill her. If we forge a blade using the blood of the last living Labonair…"

"We don't want Hope involved," Hayley quickly said, shaking her head.

"She's already involved, Hayley," Nicolas was said to say. "We didn't get it before but Hope has been obsessed with the symbol that follows the Hollow: the serpent consuming itself. She's drawn it over and over, remember?"

"The Hollow's one end of the Labonair bloodline. Hope is the other. And we need to close that loop," Freya's urgency was evident in her tone. "The best way to do that is for Hayley to wield a weapon forged with Hope's blood. When she stabs her, it's only then the Hollow can be obliterated completely. Then we make it work." She looked between Hayley and Klaus, hoping to hear the words they needed to get started…

"I'll talk to Hope," Hayley sighed and moved to do so.

~ 0 ~

It felt like it'd been forever since Maleny was at the towns square watching the local musicians. She wished she could do it a lot more, and in more serene parts of her life...but her life rarely seemed to have such serene moments. Now standing there, she felt the strands of uncertainty pulling at her.

"We should come by later tonight when there's a more...romantic feel to things," Klaus' comment only made Maleny sigh.

"And do what? Have a date while our family burns?"

"To be fair, they're in distress every night."

Maleny rolled her eyes and looked at him. "It's not funny."

"Mal, despite the challenges, we _will_ bring Cami back. To be quite honest, I don't think Elijah would let us rest until we did."

"I know. I know we wouldn't leave her but I'm looking at it from a realistic perspective. What Freya and Nicolas said is true: bringing Cami back is a very difficult thing to do."

"And we've done that how many times?" Klaus' smirk was infectious to the point of making her laugh. "She'll come back, Mal. I swear."

Maleny nodded her head, truly believing it. There was no way in hell she would ever let Cami stay locked away in that pendant. "She's my maid of honor," she meekly smiled. "Can't have her not attend…" her light humor was her own attempt to make the situation less awful.

"Of course not," Klaus followed her game. "Freya says we can bring Elijah back with some of Hope's blood plunged right into that evil spirit's body. Once we bring him back, we'll set to work on Cami. I promise."

 _Find me_. Maleny looked back at the musicians. She'd been ignoring it for too long now, even when she'd figured out what she needed to do.

"Mal..."

"I'll go help with the search. The Hollow's not getting away from us," she smiled a big, happy smile.

"Actually, Freya has Rebekah and Kol hunting down the totem the Hollow is using to protect herself," Klaus stopped her from walking off.

"Then I'll catch up with them," she smiled innocently. She leaned on her toes to kiss him then disappeared before Klaus could say a word.

~ 0 ~

For a moment before entering the the church, Maleny thought she was crazy for even considering this was the voice's origin.

Then she saw Kol.

And he saw her.

"Maleny, what the hell are you doing here?" the young Original panicked with her presence and quickly started to sense if there was anyone else with her.

Maleny noticed the action and looked over her shoulder - had Klaus followed her anyways?

"Mal, what are you doing here?" Kol demanded again after confirming she was alone. Before Maleny opened her mouth, someone else answered the question.

"She came to find _me_ ," Inadu herself walked in from the attic's backdoor. Maleny froze and stared at the evil spirit now incarnate fresh. Kol's mouth fell open as his head turned from Inadu to Maleny. Inadu came to stand across the aisle from Maleny, her hands put together in front of her, smiling like this was a simple visit. "I have to say I'm a little perplexed it took you this long to figure out who was calling you."

Maleny rid herself - at least on the surface - of the fear she felt for this spirit. "I had a lot on my plate," she spat. "You killed - in my body I should add - a man who was like my older brother and then you took away my cousin."

"Oh please, I heard from this Mikaelson-" Inadu's finger languidly pointed at Kol, "-that you were able to save Elijah and the other vampire."

"Really?" Maleny laid a sharp glare on Kol. "Kol, seriously? What the hell?"

Kol knew how this looked but swallowed down his snap because this was worth it. It was so worth it.

"Kol, leave us," Inadu ordered, startling the Original from his thoughts. His eyes flickered to the attic door with concern. Inadu rolled her eyes. "I could care much less about Davina CLaire-"

Now it was Maleny's turn to gape. " _Davina_ -"

"-and you know it," Inadu continued on, "So long as you protect the totem no harm shall come your young witch." Maleny sighed, her previous glare on Kol softening. Of course the Hollow would pull this sort of thing. "But I would be very careful in informing your family I have Maleny with me. I don't want interruptions."

Kol seemed at a loss. He wasn't on the best terms with his family but he didn't trust the Hollow not to try anything with Davina nor Maleny for that matter.

Maleny sighed and gave the Original an encouraging nod. "I'll be fine, Kol. You go and do whatever you need to do to keep Davina safe. I know that's why you're doing whatever she wants you to."

Kol gave a small, gracious smile. "I always did think you were Nik's best girl."

Maleny playfully rolled her eyes and pointed him to leave. Once he was gone, her playfulness died as she walked towards Inadu. "So what the hell did you keep calling me for? Because... _you_ hid the last thorn stake for me to find, right?"

Inadu nodded her head. "I needed to make sure you found it and not one of your mongrel family members."

"But that whole thing in my head - I saw my eyes glow blue!" it had given Maleny quite the scare in the morning when she caught her eyes flashing that bright blue in the mirror.

"That was courtesy of the echo of our host linkage we shared," Inadu's calm smile was the most irritating thing Maleny ever saw.

"I didn't agree to share anything with you!" Maleny shouted right in front of Inadu's face, her rage seemingly amusing the evil witch instead of frightening. "You took over my body and you killed people with it!"

"And yet you show no gratitude," Inadu retorted, making Maleny loudly scoff and laugh. "I could have left a nasty little infection in your veins after I left your body. It's the least I could have done after your daughter and Marcel Gerard killed me."

"So why didn't you?"

"Because I found out you were more than just a simple vampire."

Maleny's eyebrows knitted together in dark confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

As Inadu made her pitch to get Maleny to accompany her to the cemetery, the evil witch failed to notice they were being watched by the very witch Inadu resurrected the previous night. When Maleny agreed - against her better judgement - she gave a soft smile at Davina through the cracked open attic door before following Inadu out of the church.

~ 0 ~

"Rebekah's not answering. Neither is Kol," Klaus, frustrated, dropped his phone onto the table Freya and Nicolas were working at. "The sooner we end this the better."

"No. We have to assume that Inadu's totem is still intact," Freya stopped him before he went further. "We cannot attack her until we destroy it. Go after Rebekah, find the totem."

"I'm not leaving Hayley alone in this quest to kill the Hollow," Klaus was sure that was what the Hollow wanted anyways.

"Dad, I don't think we have time to argue," Nicolas raised Freya's pendant that was cracking further. "Uncle Elijah doesn't have much time."

"I'll go with Hayley," Freya volunteered. "Nicolas and Marlenie can stay here with Hope. Find that totem, alright? You're the best advantage we got. Be fast, be brutal, destroy the totem, or we're dead."

"Well, when you put it like that, it's a bit hard to refuse," Klaus sourly retorted. Freya gave a meek shrug of her shoulders. "Fine," the hybrid spat.

~ 0 ~

"It's a beautiful necklace," Inadu raised Maleny's necklace's pendant and turned it over, seeing 'Abigail' engraved on the back.

Maleny yanked her pendant from Inadu's hand. "Thanks. My mother gave it to me."

Inadu walked up to the small altar she had in the crypt, reminding Maleny of Dahlia's old tactics. "My mother killed me," she said matter-of-factly as she bent down to move around some candles.

"I heard the story," Maleny spoke briefly and was overly cautious. She had no idea what the hell this spirit wanted from her and she didn't plan on being a victim by accident...not again.

"You should know I killed the remaining Dawsons," Inadu smirked over her shoulder while Maleny froze in place. "No longer will they put you to sleep."

"You killed the very witches that made your rebirth possible?" Maleny now knew the word 'betrayal' belonged solely to the Hollow.

"They tried to be smart with me," Inadu's voice turned dark. She rose from the ground and turned to Maleny. "I granted them their memories that were stolen by Klaus Mikaelson and in return they had to provide the right type of Host for my spirit."

"So thoughtful of them to think about me," Maleny bitterly remarked.

"Well they were on the right track," Inadu gave the witches points for that. "You were the right Host body. A vampire-" she waved a hand at Maleny, "-with the agile skills, speed and enhanced senses I would require to collect my bones. But they failed to mention your past of dying and living for a thousand years. They tried to pass you off as someone unimportant."

"And what's that mean to you? I hardly think it made you feel sympathy…"

Inadu's smirk confirmed Maleny's suspicion. "See, every time a witch is sacrificed her power is maximized for the coven she's sacrificed for, but that witch is also given enhanced powers. As the Dawsons were given more power with your sacrifice, so were _you_. And normally, it doesn't matter because the sacrificed witch _remains_ dead. But that wasn't your case, was it?"

Maleny gulped. No, no it wasn't.

Inadu circled Maleny with the keenest, dark eyes ever. "You've come back to life for over a thousand years. Imagine that sort of power? Not even _I_ was able to do that, what with me being trapped by the Ancestors."

"But it doesn't matter now," Maleny began in a rather shaky voice. The spirit wanted something from her and it wouldn't be anything good. "I'm a vampire now. Vampires can't be witches."

Inadu stopped in front of Maleny and wagged a finger. "You're not just _any_ type of witch. You're of your own kind. And there is only one other who is _almost_ like you: your son."

Maleny snatched Inadu's wrist, her vamp-eyes blaring out at the mention of Nicolas. "You leave my son out of this."

Inadu seemed to collect the reaction she was hoping for. She laughed and forced Maleny to let go with an aneurysm. "My interest in your son pales in comparison to my interest for _you_. But if you fail to give me what I want then I'll have no choice but to take him as well."

"What...do you want...?" Maleny grunted on the ground, her eyes partially shut from the horrible pain in her head.

Inadu bent down in front of her, eerie smile gracing her face. "I have a list, and at the top of that list is you. Ruin it and I'll go straight for number's 2 and 3: Nicolas and Hope Mikaelson."

~ 0 ~

"You should destroy that thing," Davina almost shouted at Kol who was carefully holding onto the blue totem the Hollow left him in charge of. "Hayley could die."

"And why is her life more important than yours?" Kol frowned.

"I can't take a little girl's mother away from her, Kol," Davina sighed. "And I'm pretty sure the Hollow's going to hurt Maleny too."

"Where'd the little blonde one go, actually?" Kol curiously asked. After returning from locking Rebekah and Marcel inside a barrier, he found the church was empty again with no sign of the Hollow nor Maleny.

"Inadu took her," Davina crossed her arms. "She wants something from Maleny and it can't be good. We can't let Inadu live, Kol."

"Yeah, well, if she dies so do you," Kol reminded her, not that Davina was so in tune with it. She was willing to sacrifice herself if it meant taking the Hollow with her. "We just need to figure out another way to get you out of this. Because there is no way I'm letting you go."

"I've been thinking, Elijah once gave me one of your mother's spells. It used to break a magical link," Davina recalled. "I'm too weak right now, but if we could find a coven to counter Inadu's spell, then…"

" _Or_ ," Kol deviously thought, "We could just get some local Mikaelson witches to do the job."

"Kol, there is no way in hell Freya would help," Davina gave him a 'are you serious' face and shook her head.

"Thankfully, it's not just Freya we have," Kol's lips stretched into a smirk.

~ 0 ~

"Hey Nick," Marlenie came into the lounge room where Nicolas was nose-deep inside Abigail Rowan's grimoire. "I was thinking about what you said about Cami's return and...I think I may have a solution."

Nicolas raised his gaze from the grimoire. "Yeah? Like what?"

Marlenie smirked. "The Harvest Girls you've got hidden somewhere around here."

"You want us to sacrifice a bunch of teenagers?" Nicolas blinked.

Marlenie snorted. "Please, they lost their right when they willingly joined a cult to kill our mother."

"Marls…" Nicolas slowly closed the grimoire and set it on the coffee table. "I don't know…"

"Oh c'mon, you're the one who stashed them away after putting them in some Sleeping Beauty curse," Marlenie whacked him on the arm. "And plus the Hollow's already killed most of the Dawsons. It is possible, right?"

Nicolas sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure. These girls' powers are connected to the Ancestors and as such…"

"The Ancestors aren't so keen on helping us, got it," Marlenie leaned her back on the couch cushions. "Especially Dawson ancestors."

"Sorry Marls," Nicolas gave a rub on the arm.

"Yeah, well…" Marlenie trailed off, her head tilting to the side as she started to hear talking from upstairs.

Nicolas stared at her in confusion, wondering what was happening. "Marlenie? What is it?"

Marlenie's eyes briefly flickered to her twin before she sped off. She stopped inside Hope's bedroom where Kol was just introducing the enchanted rope knot to the little girl. "Uncle Kol...what are you doing?"

~ 0 ~

Maleny pounded on the invisible barrier Inadu had put her in without any real effort. "You don't touch my son nor Hope! Do you hear me!?" the vampire endlessly pounded on the invisible walls.

"Nicolas Mikaelson, the first born of the third Mikaelson generation," Inadu calmly stirred a blood-tainted liquid inside a bowl. "Not sacrificed but his power remains large due to his lineage. He _is_ a hybrid, though permanently un-triggered. I have seen him, I have sensed him. His power is one I would take pleasure in having."

"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Maleny fiercely screamed. This was a mistake, she now knew it. She should have never come willingly to meet with this crazy spirit! But as soon as the Hollow mentioned Nicolas, Maleny saw red. She didn't want the spirit anywhere near her children nor Hope.

"And then there's the littlest Mikaelson, one born of my blood too," Inadu paused her stirring for a second to smirk at Maleny. "She'll grow up to be just like her brother. The two could even rival each other if they wanted to. But, I don't intend on hurting them," her voice was a slow, teasing drawl. "It all depends on you."

"I already told you I don't have this stupid magic you're talking about!" Maleny raised her palms for the girl to see. "I'm a _vampire_! Took me a while to become one but I _am_ one now."

"Magic doesn't go away, it merely becomes dormant inside your veins," Inadu smirked. "Like your daughter's…" her smirk stretched wider when Maleny desperately slammed a fist against the barrier around her.

"Don't touch my daughter!"

"She may be dead but if worked on, she could become the same thing you are," Inadu kept going, even more confident she would get the results she wanted. "I have to say, you produced powerful offsprings, each in their own way. While your daughter would be much harder to work on due to her vampirism, I would be able to easily take your son. Let's not even begin with Hope Mikaelson." She came to stand face to face with Maleny, smiling as if she'd already won. "So why don't you listen to what I have to offer."

"Your offers are full of betrayal," Maleny spat.

"Not this time, I'm afraid. See your magic, a different magic, prevents me from just siphoning it away from you," and it truly showed how it frustrated Inadu, so much that it made Maleny settle down for a moment. "It's a dormant type of magic that once activated cannot leave the owner's body or else it shuts down again."

"You'll forgive me if none of this makes sense," Maleny sighed in frustration.

Inadu turned away and went to grab a blade from a nearby table. "I just learned of it myself so I guess we're on the same level of knowledge right now. Still, I managed to procure the information from the last Dawson before I ended them. Your magic-" she pointed at Maleny with the knife, "-still runs through your veins as we speak. A complex, supernatural phenmomen is needed to re-activate it."

"And even then, how would you take it?" Maleny was afraid to ask, honestly. She eyed the blade with weariness while Inadu waved it from side to side.

"I don't plan on taking it," the evil witch said casually. "I told you I can't siphon it. And if I can't siphon it, then I'll just have to take you again."

Maleny laughed for a couple of seconds. "You are not taking control of my body again."

"Shall I take Nicolas' body? Or Hope's?" Inadu became smug as Maleny finally started to realize the situation she was in. "See, it all comes down to _you_."

Maleny shook her head. "None of this is going to matter because despite Kol protecting that totem, the family's going to destroy and then they'll destroy _you_."

And yet, Inadu didn't seem scared. "I welcome it," she pointed the knife's tip at her heart. "Because when they do, I'll jump right into Hope's body." She walked back to the altar and motioned to the bowl on the table. "Before coming here, I procured blood from the mother and laced it into my spell and once I drink the liquid it'll be done."

"She's just a _child_ ," Maleny croaked. "She doesn't deserve that, please."

"No, she doesn't, but I must do what I have to, to survive," Inadu turned around, once again smirking victoriously. It was all coming to an end. "I can start with Hope and the finish with Nicolas. Or, vice versa if I'm feeling it. Either way, I will take it all and kill them and anyone else who stands in my way."

Maleny's eyes teared up as she began to come to a realization: she was going to be trapped. Any way she looked at it, the Hollow would win and they would all die. It left her with one choice and one choice only.

And it would break her heart.

~ 0 ~

"You are unbelievable," Nicolas spat at Kol after he and Marlenie followed the Original into the study. "You were going to use our little sister to do your dirty work?"

"It's not dirty, I just need someone to unlink Davina from the Hollow!"

"Davina's alive?" Marlenie blinked.

Nicolas was just as surprised but he closed the study doors to have a real chat about this move. "No doubt the Hollow sought out your biggest weakness."

"Oh, don't start sounding like Nik, _please_ ," Kol shook his head.

"Who, by the way, will kill you for this," Marlenie didn't hesitate to point out in hopes of making him rehabilitate. It did not do such thing.

"This family murdered Davina in cold blood!" Kol shouted at the twins, throwing the magical knot at the couch. "Has everyone just forgotten that!?"

"Of course we haven't," Nicolas responded calmly. "And I'm sorry what happened to her."

"I don't need your apologies, I just need someone to undo the knot," Kol pointed to the enchanted knot. "I thought Hope would do it since I know Freya would never. And frankly, I'm a little iffy about you."

Nicolas playfully rolled his eyes. "Uncle Kol, you could have just _asked_."

Kol froze and studied his nephew's demeanor. Was he joking? He couldn't tell.

Nicolas sighed and walked over to the couch to pick up the enchanted knot. "You're right. Davina deserved a lot better than what this family did to her. But a link like this, done by the Hollow, will take some time."

"We don't have much time," Kol spoke slowly as he was still trying to figure out if Nicolas was being honest in helping him. "Any moment, I'm sure, I'm going to have Klaus coming for my neck-"

"Heart," Marlenie corrected with a little smile. "He's going to come for your heart."

"I'm going to have Hope help me," Nicolas said, thinking it would pull their chances of getting the link undone.

"Thank you," Kol honestly said, never more grateful in this moment to have nephews and nieces.

~ 0 ~

"Now if you allow me to take your body as a host again, I can find a supernatural phenomenon that will allow me to access that magic stored inside your body," Inadu explained. Her fervor for the magic scared Maleny. It was clear Inadu had been thinking about this for a while. She cut her own palm with her knife and let the blood spill inside another circle she had drawn on the ground. Maleny recognized it as another means for a terrible spell.

"And what happens to me?" Maleny nervously asked, no real hope of survival coming down to her. The quicker she made herself to the idea, the better for her.

"If I feel gracious I could drop your soul into another body," Inadu smirk's said the complete opposite. She didn't plan on letting Maleny live.

"And then you take over the world, basically," Maleny closed her eyes. "How the hell am I supposed to agree to that?"

And yet Inadu knew it was only a short time until Maleny did. "Time's clicking away. Any moment, Hayley and Freya will break free from my spell and come find me here. If they kill me I will take Hope. But if you join me now, here-" she gestured to the spell ring she'd drawn, "-I will use you as my Host instead."

Maleny lowered her head and thought about it, truly thought about it because...there had to be another way.

~ 0 ~

"Now Hope, you don't have to do this," Nicolas warned his sister just as they got ready to begin the unlinking spell. "Uncle Kol had no right to ask you this, and neither did I."

Hope gave a little smile in return. "My Mom said sometimes we have to do things that we don't want to because we're the only ones who can."

"Your mom is very smart," Nicolas chuckled. "Now just follow my lead, okay? This spell is beyond your lessons so it can get a little tough and...maybe a little woozy."

"I can do it," Hope said determinedly.

"Okay," Nicolas let the enchanted knot rise in the air between them and started to chant the right words he thought would prove strong enough to break the link. _Thank you grandma Abigail_ , he thought. Her grimoire was becoming really helpful.

Outside, Kol waited to face his incoming brother who looked ready to pluck out hearts. "I imagine right now you're rather cross with me. You should know I have my reasons."

Klaus gave a wry smile and wagged a finger at him. "Rebekah suggested I hear them. I'd rather rip out your vocal chords."

Kol made a motion to just be heard, but Klaus kept coming towards him. "Now stop and listen. I did what I did for Davina. The Hollow brought her back, and now they're linked!" he ducked to avoid being punched and then retaliated by throwing Klaus against the dried out fountain. "I just need a bloody second to set her free!"

"The Hollow preys upon your weakness," Klaus sped up to Kol and grabbed him by the lapels. "She raised Davina to get you to betray your family, and you, pathetic as you are, leaped at the chance!" he returned the favor by throwing Kol across the courtyard. He then broke a nearby chair and started throwing daggers Kol's way.

"Our family owes Davina that much!" Kol shouted and fought Klaus straight on.

"I owe nothing to her!"

"She broke Maleny's curse don't you forget!" Kol managed to make Klaus pause for a second. "Now give me the chance to set _her_ free!"

"We don't have time," Klaus spat. He caught Kol by the wrist and turned it over, forcing the younger Original to his knees. He snatched the blue totem from Kol's pocket and gripped it tight.

"No, Nik. I need a little time. I just need to know she's alive!" Kol begged but Klaus let him drop to the ground with another blow. "Please, grant me this small mercy!"

"Mercy is a privilege reserved for family. Your status has been _revoked_!"

But just before Klaus was about to crush the totem, someone swiped it clean off his hand. It stunned both brothers to see Marlenie protectively holding the totem across them.

"Are we...are we seriously going to do this, Marlenie Mikaelson?" Klaus' voice had mixed in with fatherly rage that Marlenie, up to date, had never really heard.

It kind of scared her.

Klaus forgot about Kol and stepped over his brother's body to go to Marlenie. The woman shook her head and sped to a different part of the courtyard. "I'm sorry Dad, but Nicolas says he needs one more minute!"

"MARLENIE!" Klaus practically roared, making her heavily flinch.

Kol was still absolutely stunned. She was backing him up!?

"Look, Dad, if you just give them the minute we can all get what we want. Now I hate Davina - and I _really_ do hate her-" she made it clear for Kol, "-but we should help him."

"And why the hell would we do that?" Klaus surprised her by speeding up to her.

"Because, after much thinking...if it was you, Mum or Nick the Hollow took I would do the same thing," Marlenie briefly crossed gazes with Kol. "Would you not do everything you could to save me? Or Nick? Or Mum?"

"That's…" Klaus hated her logic. It sounded far too much like Maleny at the moment and it went against their plans.

"It's the unbearable truth," Marlenie finished for him. "We are bound to make any deals to save each other."

~0~

Maleny met Inadu's evil gaze with a resigned, crestfallen one. "You tied my hands."

"I'm good at that," Inadu smirked.

"If it's between me, Nicolas and Hope then take me," Maleny closed her eyes, releasing a deep sigh. "Jump into me and leave them out of this."

Inadu smirked from ear to ear. "I knew you would see it my way."

"But if I'm giving you access to my body, my magic, then you need to do something for me."

"Why would I do that? My offer was letting your son and Hope live."

"Believe me, you'll do it," Maleny assured and garnered the interest of the evil witch. "You said you needed a complex supernatural phenomenon to access my magic right?" Inadu gave a cautious nod. "It just so happens that my cousin Cami died because her sire perished. We have her soul inside a pendant and her original body preserved. Bring her back to life."

Inadu went into an almost automatic reaction, laughing in condescension. "Why would I ever do that?"

"To bring Cami back you would have to make her an _unsired_ vampire," Maleny smirked now that she knew she had Inadu's complete attention. "It's exactly the type of supernatural phenomenon you need. Cami's return would be the best, and quickest way, to access my magic. That's my request."

Inadu raised her head, eyeing Maleny with an impressed gleam in her eyes. "The Dawsons underestimated your intelligence. In another world, we could even be a team. I accept the request." She waved her hand towards Maleny and balled it into a fist.

Maleny felt a force arch her body forwards, making her scream as a pain took her over. "What are you doing!?" she cried out.

"I require blood for our special spell," Inadu responded and watched for the droplets of blood that would soon fall from Maleny's mouth.

~0~

When Hayley and Freya broke free from the spell the Hollow had cast on an abandoned house - where she was meant to be - the two women quickly discovered that during their time in hallucinations, the Hollow had switched places. Now with the help of Rebekah, who still held onto the map tracking the Hollow, they were able to relocate the evil spirit.

"Why would she come back to the cemetery?" Freya couldn't help but wonder as she and Hayley strode down the place.

Hayley opened all her senses to find the evil spirit. "Who cares. Let's just kill her." She eventually felt the Hollow's presence inside a crypt and quickly sped in. It was to her surprise that she found Maleny stored inside a protective barrier. "Mal?" Hayley rushed to go help her but came crashing face-first into the barrier.

Maleny was on the ground, palms pressed against the ground, shoulders slumped and head down, practically shaking.

"Oh, you found me," Inadu's voice drew all three women's attention.

Hayley growled and sped towards but Inadu cast a forcing wind that blew Hayley against the barrier keeping Maleny inside. Freya shook her head and drew upon her magic. Inadu was thrown back against the altar. The force of her landing made her crush right through the table to the ground.

"Now Hayley!" Freya gave the order.

Hayley charged on with the enchanted blade

Inadu seemed almost smug if they had really taken notice. "Do it!" the evil spirit taunted.

Hayley didn't need to be told twice. She plunged the blade into Inadu's chest...over...and over...and over...

Freya rushed over to pull Hayley back. "That's enough! She's gone!" she then glanced at Maleny to see how she was doing. The barrier around Maleny had disappeared, but Maleny herself remained on the ground. "Maleny? What did she do to you? What happened?"

Maleny slowly raised her left palm from the ground and turned it over, revealing on it to be a faded symbol of a snake eating its own tail. "I saved them," she looked up to Freya's and Hayley's stunned faces.

~0~

When Nicolas made sure Hope was completely fine after their tough unlinking spell, he left her bedroom and found the courtyard to be a mess of furniture. "Marls, you were supposed to stop any fighting from happening," he scolded his sister once he caught sight of her.

Klaus looked between the two and, if possible, grew even more angry. "So both of you were in on this? The term 'grounded' is going to have to be redefined once I'm through with you."

Marlenie smiled widely, amused this was still such a problem. After Klaus had somewhat cooled off, he became less scary. "You won't ground us, because you know we were right. Uncle Kol, for once, was just doing something to protect another. I know, it takes a lot to accept it."

"Even when that person is someone you despise?"

"Unfortunately."

"But the totem was destroyed, right?" Nicolas called the two up.

"Yes," Klaus was satisfied since he was the one who crushed the blasted thing. "I imagine by now the Hollow must be reacquainted with the Ancestors."

"Which means we can get uncle Elijah back," Nicolas beamed, lightly patting his hand against the balcony rail. "I'll go get that spell started for when aunt Freya returns."

Not a moment after he disappeared into another room did Marlenie and Klaus sense the others begin to return.

"Tell me how we succeeded," Klaus immediately instructed, but he faltered when he saw Maleny coming in with Freya and Hayley. "You never went to Rebekah," he accused, rather irritated after many failed attempts of getting in contact with her.

"No, she went to do something else," Hayley, rather sourly, retorted then motioned Maleny to show him.

The blonde woman, silently, raised her left palm to show Klaus and Marlenie the snake eating its tail symbol on her skin.

"Mum…" Marlenie felt her heart hammer so quick under her rib-cage.

Klaus' eyes widened a bit, but his shock subsided to be replaced with terrible fear. " _What_ did you do?" he stormed up to her and grabbed her hand, pulling her body to him in the process.

"I made a deal with the Hollow," Maleny answered without much guilt. She was resigned to get their shouts, their scolds, anything they would throw at her.

"I need to go do the spell on Elijah," Freya quietly told Klaus, knowing he probably wasn't registering much of anything at the moment. "The Hollow's body is dead and I can still use that for the sacrifice."

"Go," Hayley was the one to tell her.

Klaus was busy examining the snake on Maleny's palm. It was the same cursed symbol they kept seeing everywhere, and now it was just sitting there on Maleny's skin. " _Why_?" he demanded.

Maleny couldn't look him in the eyes just yet. She took her hand out of his and stared long and hard at the ground. "Because it was the only thing I could do. She would have taken Nicolas or Hope, and I was _not_ gonna let that happen. Never."

The determination in her tone was proof enough that the Hollow had weeded out the weaknesses of the family with precision. But unlike Kol and Davina, this deal was unlikely to end well.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Ladies and gentlemen, we are coming to the end of this story! Just 3 more chapters and we move onto the last season! Yikes!

 **For the reviews:**

Since the reviews basically said the same thing I'll just respond to them in one: I UPDATED :DD. Hope you all liked the new chapter...even if it was just angst .


	12. The Deal of the Century

In the church, the Hollow, inside Maleny's body once again, had gathered around her remaining followers. There was a magical ring barrier set around Cami's lifeless body - the lone vampire body laid on the ground.

The newly resurrected Dominic cleared his throat as he came up behind his master. Without ever tearing her gaze from her ongoing spell, the Hollow gave her order and only once. "Gather the rest of the Quarter witches. Either they join us or they die tonight. Let them take their pick."

"Of course," Dominic gave a courteous bow and stepped back. He addressed the followers and led them out of the church to go in search of their new members.

"Now then," the Hollow picked up the glowing red pendant sitting on the table. She cupped her hands around its chain and started to chant similar words that Freya had used for Elijah's case. As she did, she turned towards Cami and gave it all her power. As the forces of her energy increased, the Hollow felt a new type of energy begin to join the spell. It was Maleny's. With a growing smirk, the Hollow chanted louder and fiercer.

The gray veins on Cami's body began to dissipate from bottom to top. The moment her eyes snapped open, she saw the Hollow - though in the body of Maleny - surrounded by a colossal wave of energy. Due to the force, the Hollow dropped to her knees but once the energy was gone she looked up with a great big grin on her face.

It gave Cami chills. She had no idea what was going on but the one thing she was sure of was that this was _not_ Maleny.

~0~

The Mikaelsons had spent hours trying to come up with different ideas on how to weaken and pull the Hollow out from Maleny, but so far all they had was Nicolas' plan from the previous night.

"This is crazy, can we actually bring Abigail Rowan back to life?" Rebekah stared mostly at Freya for this answer. "We're talking about bringing back to life a witch who died a thousand years ago."

"Magic has done stranger things, little sister," Klaus was quick to remind. He wasn't completely sure about the idea but if it was possible and could bring Maleny back then he would do anything to make it happen.

"Grandma Abigail is the only blood relative Mum biologically has," Nicolas tried to explain without losing it again. He'd been going back and forth between grimoires searching for anything that could help him save his mother. This was as close as he'd come so far. "Mum's magic - even as a vampire - is the same magic that once ran through Abigail Rowan's blood, just increased tenfold over the centuries. Bringing her back could be the only way to weaken the Hollow enough to pull it out of Mum."

"If we're talking about magic why not just use yours?" Marlenie inquired curiously.

"I'm not strong enough on my own," Nicolas shamefully responded, head hanging low. "I wasn't strong enough to keep Mum from being engulfed by the Hollow. Fighting her now would require more similar magic."

Klaus moved to his son's side, resting one hand over Nicolas' arm. "This was not on you," he reminded, and would remind until it stuck through. He blamed himself, honestly, and that was the reason he kept dissuading any guilt in Nicolas. "But tell us, then, how do we do it? How do we bring Abigail back?"

Nicolas looked over to his aunt Freya for some backup. He definitely wouldn't be able to resurrect anyone on his own, much less his grandmother who lived a thousand years ago. Freya's warm smile indicated that, as always, they were going to work together.

"Um, we-we need things that belonged to her…" Nicolas began to think about it, but Rebekah - who was still iffy on the idea - reminded them all of something important.

"We buried Abigail's body over a thousand years ago. Her bones must be at the center of the earth by now."

"Then we use the next best thing - objects of hers," Nicolas already felt the stress of the complicated task ahead of them.

"But _again_ -" Rebekah tilted her head, hating to be the one to burst every plan they made, "-we don't have anything of hers. Not unless we literally throw Maleny into the spell."

"We have Abigail's grimoire," Marlenie said after pondering on her own.

It seemed to be the right idea because Nicolas was beaming. "Of course! Her grimoire would be an exceptional ingredient! All its pages were crafted by her and her magic."

"But the grimoire is all we have…"

"Locks of Maleny's hair would help too," Freya began to come up with her own list. "As Rebekah implied, Maleny is Abigail's daughter therefore she's an extension of Abigail. Anything of Maleny's body helps."

"Well I'm sure we can get locks of hair from Maleny's hairbrush," Klaus followed along the list and waited for anything else they would need.

"I'm not sure if it'll be enough," Freya admitted once she calculated the means of their spell with what they had for ingredients.

"But what else can we get?" Rebekah impatiently wondered.

Before anyone in the room answered, Hope walked in with Maleny's golden pendant necklace dangling between her fingers. "What about aunt Mal's necklace? Her mom made it, right?"

Nicolas nearly fell forwards at the sight of his mother's necklace. "That would be _perfect_!" he ran towards Hope and took the necklace into his hands. "Mum said grandma Abigail had this forged as a connection between her and Mum, so…" his entire face lit up as he turned to the others, "...this can work."

"Hope, how did you get that necklace?" Klaus immediately wondered. The first thought that came to mind was that the Hollow had made contact with Hope and that was something completely out of the question. He made way for Hope in a quick stride and examined Hope as if the Hollow would linger behind her.

"I'm okay, Dad," Hope said, almost as if reading his thoughts. "Aunt Mal gave me her necklace yesterday before the Hollow took her. She wanted me to give it to Nicolas and Marlenie because she thought they were really upset with her."

"Why did you keep it so long, then?"

Hope pursed her lips together, eyes drifting to Nicolas then Marlenie and back to Klaus. "Because I thought maybe I could do something to bring aunt Mal back. It's partly my fault she's lost right now so I wanted to make things right, but...I guess my magic's not strong enough right now."

There were many things that Klaus felt, but right now he felt an overwhelming love for his daughter. He pulled the girl into a tight hug and took refuge in it. "Thank you for that, Hope."

Hope wrapped her arms tightly around him and couldn't help tearing up. "I'm sorry, Dad. I wish I could help…"

"It's alright," Klaus pulled away and gave her his best smile. "You've done us a lot of help by giving us Maleny's necklace."

"You really did, Hope," Nicolas agreed, still wearing the biggest grin possible. "You are now my favorite sister!"

"Hey," went Marlenie with a pout.

Their gathering was yet again interrupted, but this time the calls came from downstairs and from someone making their way into the courtyard.

"Elijah? Elijah!" Cami's raspy voice carried through the compound as she stumbled her way inside.

Of course Elijah was the first one to reach her. "Camille-" he helped her stand on her feet. She was weak, clearly form being resuscitated.

"The Hollow has Maleny," she swallowed hard, eyes looking between him and the rest of the family overlooking from the second floor. Despite her condition, she could tell from their faces this was not news to them.

A short time later, she had been moved to the study and given a proper blood bank to replenish her strength. As she did, she listened to what happened over her absence and where they were now.

"And can we really do that? Bring Maleny's mother back to save her?" the blonde woman drowned the last of her blood on the couch. She felt her body almost to what it used to be. She figured she would feel like her regular self in a matter of hours.

"We're going to," Klaus answered without any trace of doubt. He was clinging to any possible hope of bringing Maleny back.

Cami knew that and it was why she felt guilty when she said, "I looked into her eyes and...I didn't see Maleny. I just saw this terrible pit of empty coldness."

"Poetic, but you should stop," warned Klaus. He was not accepting anything that would imply Maleny was lost forever.

"This resurrection-" Cami followed the warning without protest and addressed the working Freya and Nicolas, "-is going to take a lot of power, right? How are you going to get it?"

"Oh you know, four sleeping Harvest Girls should do the trick," Nicolas smirked to himself and missed the the woman's blinking horror.

"You still have those girls hidden in the compound?" Hayley gaped and immediately settled a sharp glance on Klaus. "You didn't make him get rid of them?"

With a smirk, the hybrid shook his head. "I figured the Dawsons might be of some use to us in the right conditions."

" _Hope_ lives here-"

"And I would never let Hope find them," Nicolas stopped working to argue. "I hid them with precision, alright?"

"Then go get them," Klaus ordered. "We need this to be fast."

Nicolas agreed and called upon Marlenie's help before they left. Afterwards, Freya drew the rest downstairs and started on the ceremonial drawings.

"Freya, now that the twins aren't here, from a realistic point of view, can this work?" Rebekah inquired, following Freya as the blonde witch drew a circle on the ground. She sent an apologetic look to Klaus. She knew he was uncharacteristically hopeful, but she felt like this needed to be discussed. If it wasn't worth it, they needed to move on and find another solution.

"Because there's no other side anymore, we need to draw Abigail Rowan's soul towards the living," Freya began to explain dutifully. "And to do that we need to use her own magic."

"The grimoire," assumed Hayley, throwing a glance at the book already placed inside the ring.

"No," Freya finished drawing the circle and looked up, her forehead creased with concerned. "Nicolas." The others were quick to give her stunned expressions. Freya sighed and moved back to the table to grab Maleny's hairbrush and necklace. "Nicolas' magic is the same as Maleny's and Abigail's. He is the only middle link between them that could help bridge the gap. I'm going to put him in…" she paused to think of the right term but ultimately settled for, "...no man's land. From there, he's going to draw Abigail's spirit until I can find something of hers to pull back."

Rebekah tried to follow as much as possible, being the one who made the question, but ultimately she figured it was a complicated 'yes' answer.

Klaus, on the other hand, was beginning to really consider what this meant for his son. "Will this harm Nicolas?" because he knew of this hurt Nicolas in any form, Maleny would never forgive him. He wouldn't forgive himself either.

"No," Freya was at least certain on that. "It might exhaust him but it won't hurt him." Then, with a small smile, she added, "I wouldn't let him do it either if there was a chance of harm."

When Nicolas and Marlenie returned with the four sleeping Harvest Girls, they set to do the spell as quick as possible. They already heard from Marcel that the Hollow was wreaking havoc around the Quarter in search of more followers. It was only a matter of time until it came directly for them.

The circle on the ground had different lines meeting at the center, one for each Harvest Girl they were channeling power from. Along the edges of the circle were the objects belonging to Abigail Rowan. Freya positioned herself at the head and motioned Nicolas to stand at the epicenter. The rest of the family scattered around the room to attentively watch.

Nicolas slowly closed his eyes and focused on his own power, the power that would hopefully reach out for the spirit of his grandmother. Little by little, Freya's voice began to get distant from his ears. He felt a light shift in the air and when he opened his eyes up he found himself a dim, gray place with no real scenery. Freya's chant became part of the background, a soothing tone that reminded Nicolas he was not alone.

He keenly looked around and saw multiple spirits - as wisps of energy - floating in the air. His power was the key to draw out the right spirit. He let the blissful atmosphere infiltrate his body, to his very core of magic and began to speak like Freya. "Grandma Abigail, I offer you my power as proof that I am of your blood. Come back with me to the world of the living where we can save your daughter, my mother."

There was a clear shift in the atmosphere. The once blissful air turned hard and dense, almost as if it were pushing Nicolas. He fought against the invisible force and repeated his chant. He could feel that with each time he repeated, the air around him strengthened. The swirls that zoomed past him got faster and faster until it became a melding of grim colors. The words he spoke felt slurred with the noise but he just kept going. Then, suddenly, everything stopped when something seized his wrists.

Nicolas' eyes snapped open to see a wide-eyed, heavy breathing, blonde woman in front of him.

Something pulled both of them back like a snap readjusting. Nicolas was pushed out of the magical ring from the strange force. There was a rush of frantic shouts around him - at least that's what they sounded for Nicolas. His ears had popped. He registered Klaus and Freya shaking him, urgently asking if he was alright, a couple minutes later.

"Nicolas? Hey, c'mon, say something!" Freya exclaimed.

Klaus was just about to bite into his wrist to give Nicolas blood when the man finally spoke up. "I'm fine! Dad, I'm fine!" he then assured his aunt Freya he was really fine, just a bit tired but fine nonetheless. He quickly looked past them, however, to see what the spell did in the end.

Cami had just draped a blanket over an older blonde who, for a lack of a better word, was stunned out of her mind.

Abigail Rowan was back amongst them.

~0~

Vincent returned to the compound unsurprised the Mikaelsons had reached beyond the other side and brought back one of them like nothing. It was such a thing to do. As if they didn't already have a problem with witches back from the dead who were utterly evil.

"Skip the lecture and just tell us if you've found something that could help us," Rebekah made a motion with her hand for Vincent to get on with it.

Vincent could honestly say he had...and not at the same time. "I'm gonna tell you right now, you are not gonna like my plan-"

"Yeah, we kind of just raised a woman from the dead because we don't like any of this," Hayley reminded and received a sharp glare in return.

"Can you just tell us your grand solution?" Klaus impatiently ordered.

With a sigh, Vincent finally moved on to the details of his plan. "Step one: we pull the Hollow out of Maleny. Step two: we find someplace else to put it. But with the book gone, I need a place that's both powerful and eternal."

"You need a vampire," Hayley realized and slowly looked at the others with dread.

"Uh, one ain't gonna cut it. I'm gonna need four of them," Vincent held his four fingers for them to see up and clear.

"Why four of us?" Elijah asked.

"Well, years ago, when the Hollow was first killed, they divided her remains. Four bones, four volunteers, four different locations. That's how we're going to beat the Hollow now. Transfer the Hollow's power into four immortal vampires."

"And just send us on our way," Rebekah mused with a degree of fear. "So the evil is drawn, quartered and separated for all time."

"And you have to go your separate ways, and you have to _stay_ separate," Vincent warned each and every one of them. "For all time."

"We can never see each other again?" Hayley blinked when it donned on her the implications.

"Can never go _near_ each other again," Vincent reiterated. "That is the only way that we're gonna beat the Hollow."

Klaus looked over the different reactions etched across the others' faces. Always and forever would come to an end if they did this. And yet...he knew it needed to be done. "Well, if it'll save my Maleny, then we will make it so."

Vincent pointed a finger at him, one could say it was a specific finger for the hybrid. "Here's the thing-"

"Oh, what else could there possibly be?" Rebekah flapped her hands.

Vincent had the perfect answer. "Whichever four of you take a part of the Hollow would never be able to see Maleny-" he began to list off with his fingers, "-Nicolas and Hope ever again."

Rebekah's mouth, along with everyone else, dropped to the ground. "I had to ask…"

"Look, the Hollow sensed Hope's power even before she returned to the Quarter. Nicolas became the next prey when the Hollow learned of his background. When apart, she will want to come back through Hope, Nicolas or Maleny. Whichever one she can get her claws into."

Little by little, one by one, all eyes began to flicker to Klaus. He was stunned, speechless; he couldn't fathom the idea of losing all three of them.

"Vincent, we'll need time to pick our volunteers," Elijah said after a moment of silence. Klaus had turned away from them.

"We don't have time, Elijah," Vincent shook his head.

"You get everything ready and you will have your four vampires," Elijah promised him. Vincent was doubtful for a second but he thought that if this family had already brought back a thousand year old witch then they would do something more to save their precious Maleny.

~ 0 ~

"You're going to do it, aren't you?" Cami pushed herself up from the couch she'd been resting on - being _forced_ to rest on by everyone else. After Elijah told her about Vincent's plan, she had no doubt he would be volunteer number 1.

Elijah gave a nod of his head as he walked towards the couch. "I have to."

Cami re-positioned herself on the couch so that he could sit next to her. It still strained her body to do movements but she was sure she'd get her strength back within the hours. "But that means you'd never be able to see your family. Let me do it instead."

"And you would be alright with never seeing Maleny again?" Elijah asked the terrible question that made her go silent. He reached to tuck in some hair behind her ear and offered her a small smile. "I would never ask you to do that."

"I know, but you shouldn't be asked to do something like this either," she took his hand that lingered near her hair and gripped it tight. "You have always been about your family, how can you give that up?"

"When there is no choice, I must do what I can," Elijah said simply. "Besides, I wouldn't be alone in the end...would I?"

Cami had to smile there. "No, I guess not."

"I know I haven't said it out loud due to everything that's going on, but...I'm happy you're back. It is the only thing I can thank the Hollow for."

"Thank Mal, it was her magic and her deal apparently," Cami said, feeling terrible at the reminder. "The Hollow made me an unsired vampire. I have no ties to an Original. I'm like Klaus' sireline."

"It does have its advantages," Elijah had to admit. If he were to die again at least he wouldn't bring her down with him.

Cami scooted herself closer to Elijah to hug him. Being dead was cold and lonely...something she never wanted to do again. She raised her arms to hug him around the neck and rested her head on his chest. "I love you. I'll follow you wherever we need to go."

Her words provided the comfort Elijah needed to go through with this terrible plan. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and hugged her tighter.

~ 0 ~

"There are six vampires and four needed," Rebekah counted their exclusive members in the downstairs living room.

"Five," Klaus was the first to correct as he then added, "Marlenie is _not_ doing it." He would never allow his daughter to give up her own mother...not when he was around.

"Four," then went Elijah with a straight face, making everyone think for a moment that he would back out himself. "Camille will not be joining either. I will be the first volunteer," he said in a formal manner. "Maleny is like another little sister to me. I would do anything to keep her safe."

Hayley exchanged glances with Klaus, both thinking the same thing: Hope. Whichever one of them took in the Hollow would never be able to see their daughter again.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" Hayley found a tiny amount of humor but her crestfallen face said all her true feelings. It would break her if she never saw her daughter again.

The ground became all too interesting for Klaus in the minute that followed. His mind flashed between Maleny, Hope and Nicolas. He loved all three equally and it tore him apart just thinking about never seeing them again. Yet, he couldn't just let his daughter and son never see their mothers again.

"I'll do it," his voice was quiet and grim. His eyes flickered up to Elijah as he rose up from the couch.

"Niklaus, are you sure-" Elijah's voice had already filled with massive concern but it appeared Klaus had already made his decision.

"Hope needs her mother - she's only ever known Hayley. Nicolas already lost his mother once, I'll be damned if I let it happen a second time."

"Klaus, it means you'd never see Maleny again…" Hayley got up beside him, beckoning him to think about this again."

"Hayley, do you honestly believe you could live without Hope?" he almost snapped at her. He was already furious with their fate and the last thing he wanted was people over analyzing what was already done. It was also frankly offensive they thought he was ignoring that fact. Yes, he was mighty aware he would never see Maleny again. There was no way in hell he could overlook that.

Hayley's silence was answer enough. She crossed her arms and looked to the side. "...no…"

"Then why argue with me?"

"Because you would be giving up not only your daughter and son, but…"

Klaus did his best not to show weakness, not when everyone needed to be cold and logical. "It's decided," he repeated and left the room.

"I guess we better call Kol," Rebekah's whisper did nothing to get the remaining moving.

~ 0 ~

"It's actually a lovely city...when it's not currently being overtaken by an evil spirit," Nicolas' voice drew his grandmother's attention away from the open window.

Abigail Rowan turned out to have big, wide brown eyes because ever since her arrival they had been permanently stuck in a wide manner. Or perhaps that was just because the 21st century was a little different from the world she last knew.

Abigail turned her head back to the window, gazing out at the street that was so desolate. "No...people…" her voice was that of a clear older woman, but perhaps it was the fact she hadn't used her voice in quite a while.

"That would be because of the Hollow," Marlenie came in with a couple of clothes in her arms. She gave a sheepish smile as she laid the clothes on her bed. "I brought you some clothes from the Quarter. You probably don't want to say in old hand-me-downs from werewolves that used to stay here. I know you must be, uh...confused-"

"Confused would be a…" Abigail trailed off and looked around the room with continuous awe, "...it does not accurately describe my feelings at the moment."

"We figured," Nicolas exchanged a glance with his sister.

Abigail studied the two young-looking people with a degree of curiosity. "You performed dark magic to get me here," she said directly to Nicolas.

The man gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Kind of 101 with aunt Dahlia…"

"You went beyond the limits of a regular witch and you sought my spirit." She walked up to Nicolas and looked him up and down before suddenly grabbing his wrists. "With _my_ magic. My daughter is in trouble," Abigail felt the word completely soapy in her mouth. "A thousand years I have not seen Maleny. Cursed to watch from beyond until the other side disappeared. I have seen everything, how she was cursed, how...how much pain she has gone through. Where is she? I must see her-"

Just as she tried escaping out the door, she bumped into Klaus. With a small gasp, she took a step back.

Despite it being awkward - _very_ awkward - Klaus spoke in a formal manner, much like Elijah would. "I imagine you must be very confused but you must have assumed, by now, that if we brought you here it is because-"

"My daughter is in danger," Abigail said again, hard and full of determination. "I want to find her _now_."

"And you will. That is why we brought you here," Klaus turned the woman to Nicolas and Marlenie. "You and your grandson have the lovely task of subduing Maleny with your magic. We have already procured a plan to bring Maleny back here so we can pull the evil spirit that resides in her body."

"Grandson?" Abigail's eyes widened even more as they laid on Nicolas who meekly waved.

"Granddaughter," Marlenie raised a finger beside her brother.

The twins exchanged mischievous looks then both pointed at Klaus. "Dad!"

Klaus loved his twins. He really did. But right now he felt like he would lock them away in the dungeon.

~ 0 ~

"Quite the party," Marcel's voice cut through the gathering the Hollow had in the church. "And followers…" he eyed the newly resurrected Domonic along with the familiar face of Sofya Voronova. The woman had been playing him ever since she arrived. He felt like a true idiot.

"The king of New Orleans gracing me with a visit?" the Hollow smirked. "But you're not alone…" she raised her head, using Maleny's senses to pick up on at least two more people standing behind the doors.

"Uh, I bear gifts," Marcel came to stand just before the altar. "If you're interested in a truce."

"Last time you offered me something like that you stuck a knife into my chest."

"This time it'll be different," Marcel made the promise with nothing but honesty.

The Hollow went down the three steps to be face to face with Marcel on his level. This body was much too small. "How so?"

Marcel leaned forwards to whisper. "I won't be the one sticking the knife this time." Before the Hollow could react, he had grabbed her arms and swept her out of the room.

She stood in street outside of the church with Marcel slowly backing away from her, fingers pointing behind her. She turned around and saw Nicolas and Abigail, joined at the hands.

"What's this?" the Hollow mused with a condescending look-over.

Abigail had gasped at the sight of her daughter, but she felt a terrible pit in her stomach when she heard the dark voice inhabiting her daughter.

"I want my mother back," Nicolas spat.

"Come and get it," the Hollow extended her hands to her sides.

"We will," Abigail gripped Nicolas' hand.

They chanted together a spell and despite the Hollow's pride it seemed to be working against her. There was an invisible force making her shoes scrape against the ground, moving her against her will.

"Yeah, see-" Marcel leaned forwards again, completely safe, "-you inhabit a witch who has a thousand years of magic but now you'll be facing a warlock who studied Dark magic for a thousand years with one of the Darkest witches in history and a resurrected, powerful witch whose magic is the origin of the magic you stole from Maleny. Good luck. I have to go help take down those followers of yours in the church." Marcel left in a speedy rush back to the building.

The Hollow growled and put forth her own magic.

Abigail closed her eyes and allowed the magic inkling off her, yearning to be used after a thousand years, to radiate. She could see the effect it took upon the Hollow almost immediately. "That's my daughter's magic and you _will_ vacate her body."

The Hollow smirked specifically at Nicolas. "I was this powerful and threatening that you had to bring in the _mother_? You used Dark magic - I can almost smell it off you." Nicolas balled his hands into fists. The Hollow seemed more and more interested in him. "Your mother foolishly sacrificed herself for you and perhaps, in the end, it'll be for nothing."

"You want my magic? Come and get it," Nicolas followed in his grandmother's footsteps and released a wide range of energy towards the Hollow.

The spirit encased in Maleny's body was thrown down the street. Despite the darkness of the night, both Abigail and Nicolas saw the stunned expression on Maleny's face - the Hollow hadn't been expecting this momentary weakness.

"This might actually work," Nicolas murmured to his grandmother.

"You _are_ a Rowan witch," she smirked and side glanced him. "You didn't think you got all your incredible abilities from Esther did you?"

Nicolas laughed. He was well aware that both his grandmothers were quite powerful in own their ways.

The Hollow took her chance to get back on her feet. She bawled her two hands and swiped them to the side, pulling them both in different directions. "No matter what idea you have, I will _always_ beat you." She started heading for Nicolas, a deranged smile swirling across her features. "But now that I have witnessed your abilities, I think I'll take them."

"Get away from my grandson," Abigail reached forwards and pulled the Hollow to the ground by gravitational force. With her free hand, Abigail caused a strong aneurysm - which she inwardly apologized over and over to her daughter for - and called Nicolas to do the deed.

Though wobbly on his feet from the throw, Nicolas rushed towards his mother with an enchanted blade in hand, this time drenched in Abigail's blood, laced with a special type of magic designed for Maleny's body. The Hollow saw it coming and desperately cried. She held a hand towards Nicolas and cast whatever magic she could muster under Abigail's pain. Nicolas felt a series of sharp pains jab at every corner of his body. It felt like spikes were pushing through is skin with each step he took towards her. But, he couldn't give up. This was the only chance they had to subdue the Hollow without hurting(ish) Maleny. He pushed through, and by pushed through it meant he just controlled his screams as best he could. From her end, Abigail had to double her load of magic to keep the Hollow down. Nicolas finally pushed the enchanted blade through his mother's back and then collapsed himself along with her.

Abigail dropped to her knees, overwhelmed from the magic she used for the fight. With a hard pant, she got back up and rushed to Nicolas' side to see if he was fine and if their bit worked.

~ 0 ~

Abigail stood beside Maleny's unconscious body that laid on the latter's bed. Maleny's wrists had been binded with magic-cancelling shackles, but she had yet to awaken from the stab on the back.

"What's she doing?" Marlenie whispered to Nicolas and Klaus on either side of her. The three stood at the doorway, watching as Abigail murmured a couple words under her breath while her hands were encasing Maleny's hand.

"She's using a trance spell," Nicolas recognized the spell as a similar one Freya would sometimes use on him after he had a particular episode with Dahlia. "It's meant to sooth the person, give them...a happy space."

Indeed Abigail was using her resurrected magic to help her daughter in any way that she could. The Hollow may inhabit Maleny's body, but Maleny herself was not gone. She was pushed to the back of her mind. That is where Abigail sought to make a safe haven for her daughter.

The place was dark and empty, cold and bathed in a blue glow. Maleny herself sat on an old, crumbling ground with her hands in her hair, head resting over her pulled-up knees. This is how Abigail found her, and it broke her heart.

"My child, look at you…" she rushed forwards.

The sound of her voice slowly pulled Maleny's head from her knees. Despite her situation, she was lucid enough to recognize the woman. "Mo...ther?"

Abigail's eyes were already filling to the brim with tears before she reached Maleny. She dropped to her knees and pulled her daughter into a gripping hug. "My Maleny! Look at you, all grown up! All-"

Maleny had been thinking about this and quickly concluded this was just another trick from the Hollow. She ripped away from Abigail and scurried on the ground to get away from Abigail. "You already have my body! Just leave me alone!"

Abigail smiled through her tears. "This is not a joke, Maleny. I am here-"

"No you're not!" Maleny fiercely shouted. She pulled her knees up to her chest and shook her head. "Nobody is here. I'm alone. I'm alone. I'm alone."

"That's what the Hollow is making you think," Abigail slowly neared her daughter again. "But you should know how strong and determined your son is…"

At the mention of Nicolas, Maleny's eyes snapped onto Abigail again. "Nick…?"

Abigail nodded and chuckled. "I met him. He's very lovely. He performs dark magic, but that's beside the point."

"You...you talked to Nicolas…?" Maleny's heart ached to see her son again, her daughter…

"He brought me back," Abigail got on her knees in front of Maleny. Her hand reached to touch Maleny but the woman shied away from it. "Maleny, your son brought me back to help you fight this Hollow."

"The fight is lost," Maleny's voice was downcast, left with no trace of hope. "The only chance is to kill me."

"Do not ever say that," Abigail gave a stern warning, one that reminded Maleny of her mother in the village. "I watched you for a thousand years. Though sometimes I lost track of your bodies - like the one that birthed the twins, apparently - I always admired your bravery. You did not give up and right now you will continue to follow the same path."

Maleny tilted her head and stared at Abigail for a full minute. "...mother?"

Abigail smiled softly. "Hello, dear." Maleny's eyes widened. Her hand stretched forwards and was immediately taken by Abigail. "It's me, Maleny. You're not alone."

Maleny's vulnerability returned, combined with the simple fact she was a daughter whose mother had been taken far too early from her. "Mom…?" her lip quivered like a child's. She lunged forwards and retreated into Abigail's warm embrace.

"It will be alright, do not worry," Abigail soothed her daughter. She rested her cheek over Maleny's head and rubbed Maleny's back.

"I'm scared," Maleny's shaky voice only confirmed her statement. "I willingly sacrificed myself for my son and a little girl who I love like a daughter. I know I made the right choice but I'm scared. I'm so scared!"

"I know you are, but know this: you are not alone. You are not going to die here."

Maleny pulled away to meet her mother's gaze, face stained with tears. "If I don't die then it means someone else will and I don't want that. I would rather die. In fact I can already feel it," she put a hand over her chest. "Since the Hollow put me here, I...I feel this coldness creeping over me…wanting to consume me. Before I go I wish I could see my family one more time. My twins...Klaus…"

Abigail sensed she was losing Maleny. "Okay, you know what? I can make some of that happen. But you have to promise me you will not give in."

"But what…?" Maleny watched as her mother got up.

"I need you to go to your happy place," Abigail instructed. "A place where you can find refuge…"

"But the Hollow controls my every thought," Maleny looked at the desolate area they were now in.

"She controls your body, not your mind. Close your eyes, Maleny, and find your happiest place." Abigail offered one last encouraging smile before returning to the mortal world. She got up from the bed and was startled with her small audience.

"How is she?" Klaus asked, eyes glued to Maleny for the time-being.

"Afraid…" Abigail sighed. "The Hollow has put her in a terrible, empty place that makes her feel exactly the same."

"Can you do anything to help her?"

"I have," Abigail smiled. "Our same magic allows me to put her in a different place - her happy place. I believe that is what your youngest one told me it was called."

"Speaking of, I should get the necklace back from Hope," Nicolas thought to the necklace the girl had once kept. She was still stuck on the idea of helping Maleny in anyway she could. "Mum's going to want it back soon." He made a gesture he would be back soon and took Marlenie with him.

Klaus headed for Maleny's bedside. His time with her had already began to count backwards. He didn't want to be apart anymore than he had to. Despite his concentration being solely on Maleny, he could feel Abigail's eyes burning on him. "You are free to speak about my failures concerning your daughter," he met her startled gaze with a neutral one. "I thought it was fairly obvious that was what ran through your mind."

"I do not think you know half of what is in my mind right now," Abigail politely clarified.

Klaus wasn't so sure. "If you have seen things for a thousand years then you know what I and my family have done over and over. You cannot help but wonder how your daughter got entangled with the likes of my family, and much less with _me_.

"It is... strange, seeing my daughter here...with your family. But then again, she was always so close to Rebekah," Abigail reminisced of the simpler times in their village. "The two were inseparable. I will admit, however, what I am taken aback by is how far your relationship with Maleny has gone. I never thought these two kids would end up falling in love with one another."

A sour tinge sparked in Klaus' eyes as he looked down at Maleny. "Let me guess, like Mikael, you assumed if Maleny were to end up with anyone it would have been with one of my brothers. Elijah? Finn? Kol?" he could see this was no news for Abigail.

"My husband did speak of it," she confessed. "He and Mikael always got along so well it was natural we would pair our only child with one of the Mikael's."

"Which one?"

Abigail felt awful seeing that obviously pained smirk on Klaus. "They did have a liking towards Elijah…"

"Of course."

Abigail saw the love and care that Klaus stared at Maleny with. It was same expression she had seen countless times from the other side. "I have no doubt in my mind that despite who you are, and what you have done, your love for my daughter is genuine. I would not be here if it were not. You...would not be making the sacrifice you are if you did not love my Maleny."

"She and my children are my heart and soul," Klaus said with nothing but honesty. Never in a thousand years did he think he would ever utter those words. He feared after today, he would return to that dark solace he feared of.

"You have not told them," Abigail spoke in a much more hushed tone. "Nicolas? And Marlenie? The nice little blonde vampire explained to me the situation of this...plan...and-"

"You will not say anything," Klaus deadly warned her, for a moment that darkness lacing his eyes. "They must not know until it is done."

"You are giving up your son…"

"I am giving him up to Maleny. A child needs their mother-"

"-and as _you_ know, a child also needs their father."

Klaus wasn't expecting to have this conversation with _her_...but here they were. "I have already endured my family's arguments and throughout it my decision has remained the same. I will not let Marlenie take my place, I will not let Hayley either, and I most certainly won't ask Freya nor Nicolas to turn. Never."

Abigail took in a shaky breath and stepped forwards. "Then turn _me_." Klaus' eyes widened with shock at how easy she offered herself up. "Maleny has lived a thousand years without me. She does not need her mother anymore…"

A little smile wormed its way across Klaus after a minute. "You know, I _finally_ learned where Maleny gets her awful lying skills."

Abigail sighed. "I do not wish to see my daughter with a broken heart. I fear she may not make it."

"The alternative does not bode well for her either," Klaus easily countered with. "As I have said before, a child cannot live without their mother. They shouldn't have to. I have seen firsthand how much Maleny missed you and I will not be the reason why she loses her mother a second time."

"You are the right man for her," Abigail's soft smile was enough to startle Klaus. "Little Niklaus who loved to paint and create...how could my sweet, curious Maleny resist?"

The awkwardness once again filled the room, but Klaus would never admit how good it sounded to hear her unorthodox blessing. It was always one of his fears when he and Maleny were still in their village. He carried the idea that he wasn't worthy of Maleny, despite her constant assurances he was.

Abigail walked over to Klaus' side and moved his hand to be over Maleny's. "Find her in her happy place," she instructed with a soft smile. "Tell her you're going to save her."

Klaus closed his eyes and allowed the spell Abigail cast to take him wherever it was Maleny had decided was her 'happy place'. He was mighty shocked to find himself in a familiar forest. He walked a short amount of land before he found the specific happy place, one that he knew very well.

Maleny sat on a comfortable, mushy flower bed and was dead concentrated on making a flower crown. A smile crossed Klaus as he recalled one of her favorite pastimes in the village was to create those flower crowns.

"Mal?"

Maleny froze in the middle of her work. She followed the source of the voice and gasped when she saw him. Immediately, she dropped her unfinished flower crown and got up to run to him. "Oh my God!" she threw her arms around Klaus' neck and practically clung to him. "You're here, you're here - you're finally here," she murmured.

Klaus hugged her tight, already making a count of the last ones he would ever get to give her. "Of course I'm here, love. I'll always be with you." The double sentiment of his words went right through Maleny at the moment. She didn't know what was going to happen, and Klaus wasn't so willing to share it with her.

~0~

As soon as Abigail left the bedroom, she bumped into Nicolas who had returned with both of his sisters this time.

Hope's already big eyes widened at the sight of the woman. "You're aunt Mal's mom?" she hadn't been allowed out of her room since last night and so this was the first time she saw their newest member.

Abigail studied the little girl for a second. "You must be Niklaus' youngest one. You look the same around the eyes."

Hope sheepishly smiled. "You look like aunt Mal. You have her hair."

Abigail smiled back. "I think we do."

"We brought Mum's necklace," Nicolas held the golden necklace Abigail herself had crafted a thousand years ago.

Marlenie peered around her grandmother to see her parents inside the room. "What is Dad doing?".

"Talking to your mother. I thought it would help sooth Maleny until we can wake her," Abigail ushered the three away from the room.

"Is aunt Mal going to be okay now?" Hope asked as they were led away.

"She is going to be just fine," Abigail felt like she was lying through her teeth. Even when they pulled the Hollow out of Maleny, she would never be at peace knowing her family could never be together again.

~0~

"I have to say I'm a little surprised you chose this place as your go-to for happiness," Klaus made a languid point to the flower-invaded setting around him and Maleny. They were sitting on the actual flowers, another of their favorite pastimes.

"Are you really?" Maleny raised an eyebrow, almost smacking him for being so incredibly smug. He knew exactly what this place held for both of them. She missed that smugness but she would never tell.

Klaus continued with the innocent charade. "Have I missed something?"

With a laugh, Maleny lunged at him for a hug and forced him to the ground. "You're unbelievably you."

"Problem?"

"Not at all." Maleny's smile didn't last long, for something seemed to be drawing her attention.

"Maleny?" Klaus sat upright, gently bringing her up as well.

"The Hollow is trying to get in…" her eyes began to get distant, even her voice slowed into a drawl. "...I can feel her…"

"Maleny listen to me," Klaus cupped her face and forced her attention back to him, "You need to fight her off just a little while more."

"She's already invaded every part of my body, this is the last place her claws haven't reached into yet," Maleny looked him in the eyes then, her fear resurfacing once her mind cleared up. "I'm really going to die, aren't I? At least say I'm taking the Hollow down with me."

"You think I would let you die?" Klaus cupped her face, thinking his reassurance would dissuade her fears.

They did the complete opposite.

"It's precisely because I know you'd do anything to keep me alive that I'm scared of what it implies," her voice was a frail one. "We do the worst things for each other's survival."

"Exhibit A," Klaus made a quick gesture at her and earned himself a rather sharp glare in return. "Maleny there is nothing I wouldn't do for you. There is nothing my family wouldn't do for you. They love you, and I love you." His hands once again came to rest on her face. "You...were the only one who...ever got past who I was, you know? I'm the beast and you…you are _good_. I hope you find good in the world after this-"

"That sounds like a goodbye - why are you saying goodbye?" Maleny was quick to panic. There was a sadness in his eyes she couldn't quite describe as anything but departure. And she dreaded what _kind_ of departure it was for. "Klaus, what are you going to do? What are-"

Klaus silenced her with a kiss - one too hungry that just fueled her fears even more. Still, she missed him, and because of that she kissed him back. Despite everything they'd been through, Klaus never thought they would one day have to part from each other again, forever this time. Always and forever, that extended to Maleny long ago and yet, in the end, it hadn't been enough. He would leave her and never see her again.

It was what he unintentionally conveyed in their kiss.

Maleny pulled away only slightly, showing a teary face. "Don't go," she pleaded in a whisper. "Whatever you're thinking of doing...don't."

Klaus gently pushed some of her hair behind her shoulder and gave her his best smile. "You'll see your mother in person real soon."

"Klaus-" Maleny's whisper barely made it through her lips before he gave her a second, shorter kiss.

He pressed his forehead against hers and sighed. He could feel the pull from the present world - Abigail was trying to bring him back. It was probably time. "Thank you, Mal. Thank you for...softening a heart I wasn't entirely sure was there. I love you...and I set you free from me." He pressed a kiss to her lips, savoring it as much as he could in the short span of a second.

"Please don't," Maleny practically begged him to listen to her but it was done before she even got there. There was a small noise in the forest - the Hollow, Maleny was sure - and when she looked back to Klaus she found he was gone. Her eyes widened with alarm and she scrambled up to her feet, shouting his name. Whatever he was going to do, he was going to do it now and there wasn't a single thing she could do to stop him.

It tore her apart. What the hell had she done?

~ 0 ~

"You should be resting," Marlenie told Nicolas the moment the man came into the room on wobbly feet.

"I need to see this through," he told her and anyone else in the room thinking of telling him to return to his bedroom. The Hollow's attack and his own overwhelming use of magic had left him a little weaker than planned. Freya also reminded him that he had ventured into "no man's land" in search of a spirit so that was ground zero for taking it easy, something he'd never done before in his life.

"Kol, if you would," Vincent motioned the Original to one of the corners of the intricate design he'd drawn on the ground for the spell. "Rebekah, over there-" he nodded the blonde woman towards the opposite corner, "-and Elijah…?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Rebekah was quick to snap at Marcel's uninvited presence in the room. "You come to gloat?"

"He better not," Marlenie muttered as she helped Nicolas take a seat nearby.

"No, I came to make sure that this works," Marcel responded to Rebekah's snap with the same attitude she gave him.

"What is this spell exactly?" Nicolas called to Vincent, noticing the way all of the Originals tended to avoid eye contact with him.

"The spell that will bring your mother back to you," Klaus answered when he - carrying Maleny's unconscious body - and Abigail entered the room. "It'll work just fine."

"Put her right there," Vincent instructed him to bring Maleny to the center of the square.

Klaus gently lowered Maleny to the ground. He stroked a bit of her face and smiled to himself. She'd be awake soon.

"Nicolas?" Vincent called and moved towards the man. "Now I know you're not at your best but I do need you for this spell."

"What can I do?" Nicolas asked, trying to push himself out of his chair.

"Now your mother and you don't share blood but you're bound by magic. Your blood, however, is what's related to the Mikaelsons so you are the perfect blend - the perfect conduit to make this spell work. When I pull the Hollow out of Maleny, it will pass through you and to the others."

"He's not strong enough for that right now," Freya argued despite Nicolas almost agreeing to it at that moment.

"You said you only needed my siblings and I," Klaus, very annoyed, reminded him.

Vincent gestured with his hands that this was really out of his hands. "He's the blend that can close the gap between Maleny and your family. The Hollow needs to reside in people related to Maleny and since we don't have that I am doing the best I can with what I have. Nicolas' magic and blood would flow with the Hollow into each of your bodies."

"Would that make us like Maleny, then?" Kol wondered, not that against becoming the second witch-vampire hybrid out there.

"No, it's a very minuscule bit of magic," Vincent said with eyes directly on Klaus. "Just enough to make the transition work. He needs to do this."

"I _can_ ," Nicolas assured from behind. He forced himself up and headed for the square. Klaus sent a last glare at Vincent before going to help his son. Vincent instructed for Nicolas to be just a couple inches from Maleny's body.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Klaus asked Nicolas once the latter was in place.

Nicolas gave a nod of his head. "I'm a Mikaelson. I prevail."

A proud smirk spread across Klaus' face. He gave Nicolas a tight hug, knowing this would also be the last time he saw his son in person. "I am proud to be your father, Nicolas."

"Thank you…" Nicolas suspiciously eyed Klaus who, all of a sudden, couldn't quite make eye contact with him.

Even from a distance Marlenie saw the same thing. "Aunt Freya, exactly what does this spell do again?" she asked the blonde witch beside her. Freya cleared her throat and instead opted to go help Vincent with the spell. Marlenie crossed her arms and her gaze landed on the next closest person, Cami.

The blonde vampire meekly smiled and looked straight ahead.

"Vincent…?" Marlenie's voice started to rise.

"Abigail, when I tell you to, I want you to take the manacles off Maleny," Vincent instructed the older blonde holding Maleny on the ground.

"Of course," the woman agreed.

"Vincent…" Marlenie started going around the square but Hayley arrived to block her way.

With a determined face, Hayley took hold of Marlenie's arms. "I'm really sorry, Marlenie."

"What are-"

"Everybody else, when this spell is over, you got to get away from each other, and you have to stay away from Maleny," Vincent warned the readied Mikaelsons.

Marlenie's and Nicolas' eyes simultaneously widened. "WHAT!?"

"Do the spell!" Klaus urgently motioned Vincent. Those two had his impulsive trait packed down really well. One second would make the difference of a lifetime.

"Diviser... Diviser ak konkeri. Diviser... ak konkeri. Diviser ak konkeri. Diviser ak konkeri-"

Nicolas turned to Freya and Vincent with looming rage. "What spell is this!?"

"Hayley get out of my way!" Marlenie struggled against Hayley's grip. "I _will_ snap your neck!"

"Not if I bite you!" Hayley hated saying those words, especially when her daughter was just upstairs.

"Chire apa ak pó. Ak konkeri. Ak pó - Abigail, do it now!" Vincent shouted over the twins' screams.

Abigail snapped off the manacles from Maleny's wrists.

"HAYLEY!" Marlenie finally pushed the hybrid away from her and whirled around to the square. "What are you doing!?"

But now it was Cami who went against her, quite literally ramming her body against Marlenie's.

Maleny's body arched forwards as she deeply gasped awake. An eerie blue glow bathed the room, freezing Marlenie who was getting up from Cami's attack. Even Nicolas fearfully looked around.

But he was then shot by the same blue glow, but as a stream of energy that penetrated his back. His gasp was raspy and sharp, mouth arched open with pain. The same blue spirit shot through his chest, splitting into four jets of blue that then shot each of the Mikaelson siblings.

"I can hear it... whispering…" Rebekah swallowed hard as she regained her composure. She could feel the sentient being in her mind, whispering things she couldn't quite make out.

"Okay, you guys need to go. Now!" Vincent shouted at the four vampires. Kol did a nod and zipped out first, followed by Elijah then Rebekah, who spared their niece and nephew one sad smile first.

"This wasn't the plan!" Nicolas did his best to argue, but if he had been weak before now he could barely make it up to his feet.

Klaus made a move towards him but he remembered the number one rule: he couldn't ever do that again. Freya zoomed past him to help Nicolas up instead.

"Klaus, you need to leave," Vincent was urgently gesturing the hybrid out the doors.

"I need to know if she's all right," Klaus took one step forwards and then retracted it at least twice while he waited on Maleny.

"Klaus, I promise you, she is going to be okay if you go," Vincent kept persisting on his departure.

Maleny took another deep gasp, one that made several things around them explode into nothing. The mere action made everyone flinch, but it didn't compare to her reaction. "Klaus, what did you do!?" she tried pushing herself out of her mother's hold, her strength not all there yet.

"I love you, Maleny," at least now Klaus felt like he could part on better terms. She was safe, and okay, and she would overcome what the Hollow left in her.

"Klaus!" she nonetheless shouted after he sped out. "What did-" Maleny shot glares at Vincent and made for him, but as it turned out she wasn't able to command her feet yet. Marlenie swept in and stopped Maleny from falling. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Maleny screamed at Vincent with all the rage she could muster in her state.

A series of flames burst in different areas of the room, scaring the hell out of her.

Vincent, despite their success, still remained rather somber for what they now would have to deal with.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I hated doing this but at the same time I wanted this to happen, does that make sense? Next chapter is the last one of this story, can you believe that? The next story is, as of now, the last one for Maleny & Klaus! My babies are all grown up xD

 **For the Reviews:**

 **Guest** : Updated, even though it took me a while! Sorry about that!

 **Athina86:** Well there you go! Had to admit that Cami's death, because she was originally sired by Elijah, was a tricky thing to fix here. But once I made Maleny go with the Hollow's deal, I knew exactly what to do with Cami! Hope it made sense ;)


	13. Lost

"I hate this! And I hate that-" Maleny pointed at the spell's chalk drawn on the ground, "-and I hate _you_ for ever coming up with this plan..." Maleny was still raging and pacing in the courtyard which continued to burst in new flames every time she screamed.

Vincent rubbed his forehead wearily at her continuous screams. This had been going on for _hours_ and she seemed nowhere close to losing her voice or at the very least lowering her voice. He understood her, on some level. She had lost the love of her life to an ancient spirit that now lived inside that love and would continue to for all of eternity. At the same time, her family - as malignant and bloody as it was - was fractured for all of time.

Klaus would never see her again nor their son or Hope.

Maleny blamed herself. Oh she blamed herself and that was why she was partly furious.

"And what the hell is-" Maleny stopped when a new fire burst just beside her. She jumped and stared, wide-eyed at the fire. "And...why do I keep doing that?" her voice had turned into a whisper.

Vincent dropped his hand from his forehead and with a sigh explained as much as he could before she screamed again. "You, Maleny, are now a...hybrid." Maleny's face contorted into a glare in record time. "You did this, remember? You let the Hollow access that magic when she brought Cami back from the dead," Vincent reminded her.

"But a vampire can't be a witch," Maleny didn't even know how to argue anymore. At this point, what wasn't possible?

"You can. Witches aren't meant to live like you have. Living and dying, sacrificed, for centuries? Nature compensated you for what you went through."

"Then at least tell me I can use it to bring Klaus back," Maleny pleaded for a solution that would make everything better. "My son and Hope can never see their father again because of what I did. My daughter-" she pointed a shaky finger upstairs, "-is broken because her mother tore the family apart. You hate me but please don't punish my kids."

"Look, I ain't got nothing against those three Mikaelsons but there's nothing I can do," Vincent was completely honest. He winced as a nearby vase shattered into pieces. "This is what you chose, it's what Klaus and his family chose. I'm sorry it hurt the twins and Hope, but that's it."

It was novelty seeing a vampire completely shatter within. Maleny lowered herself to the couch's armrest, eyes wide and full of tears. A frantic state washed over her as she finally began to process what this meant for her and her family.

She never noticed Vincent slipping away. Still, despite his attempt to get away, he was stopped by one more Mikaelson outside the street.

Nicolas was still walking when he shouldn't be. "You need to go help your mother," Vincent intended on saying only that and leave but Nicolas grabbed onto his arm.

"Help me bring him back," his voice was not demanding nor was it threatening. Like Maleny, Nicolas was losing it.

"I can't-"

"There has to be _something_ , a loophole! Anything!" Nicolas exclaimed, letting go of Vincent.

"I just finished telling Maleny there was nothing. But please, feel free to do your own search because I get the feeling Maleny isn't going to make it."

"What do you mean?" Nicolas asked despite knowing exactly what Vincent was talking about.

"Your mother has never truly lived without the Mikaelsons has she?" Vincent curiously wondered. "She's died along the way but she was never away from them for a long time before she was placed in another body. Now she has to cope with the fact she can never see any Mikaelson ever again. And you know what, I'm guessing the fact she can't stay here either isn't going to help."

Nicolas' face scrunched in outrage. "What-"

"What your mother is now will forever mark her," Vincent warned. "People here will never forget how she slaughtered people-"

"The _Hollow_ did that-"

"-and now Maleny has the power to do it on her own. Maleny is a _hybrid_ now, and she's a unique one, a _deadly_ one. She can't stay here," Vincent shook his head. "You know it."

Nicolas ran a hand through his hair, frustrated with things. "She is suffering in there! I can't...I don't know what to do to help her. Please, tell me something…"

All Vincent did was shrug because really, even if he wanted to help, there was nothing that came to mind. It was done.

~0~

Cami awkwardly cleared her throat as she approached Elijah in the cemetery. It didn't take her long to find him after the spell, but she did question his choice of venue.

"I realize now this is the first place where we actually... connected," Elijah spoke in a pretty nostalgic voice of Cami had to describe.

She gave a little smile in return. "In the cemetery... that's, that's pretty New Orleans." Elijah gave no comment, only continued to stare straight ahead. She turned to him and searched for any emotion on his face. As usual, he did his best not to show any. "Tell me what you feel," she instructed in a quiet voice. "You just...you gave up your family and that...that has to hurt. I say it as someone who lost most of her biological family."

"I'm a danger to my family, Camille," his words weren't the ones Cami was expecting but she figured it was a start. "And I fear that if I don't take precautions before leaving I will not be able to contain myself. I'll end up hurting my niece and nephew and Maleny."

"What do you mean?" Cami did her best to follow but his vague words weren't helping.

"My disease has always been this blind devotion to my brother. A thousand years, and whenever he has needed me, I have been there. And no matter what I do, I'm at the complete mercy of that devotion. I can't do that anymore. Not anymore."

Cami gripped his hands and offered her most supportive face. "What do you want to do?"

Elijah finally met her gaze and, despite his fears, he confessed, "I want to be free of Always and Forever. I want to...forget. But...if I do, I might lose you. And I never want that."

"Whatever you want to do, I will be there," Cami vowed. She admitted taking his memories away wasn't the first thing on her mind but it had some logic. "Memories or not, we're together no matter what."

She met him with a hug and a kiss. It was their reassurance this would not be their ending.

~0~

"Maleny?" Abigail inched closer to Maleny who was still in the courtyard, sitting on the couch with her hands together and pressed against her nose. "You want to come upstairs and rest for a bit?" Maleny shook her head without saying a word. "You just expelled an evil ancient spirit from your body. You must be exhausted." Nothing she did pulled Maleny out of her state, until a different voice spoke out to her.

Maleny sensed the new presence of the other of their families and felt like maybe she should have locked herself up in a room.

"Aunt Mal?" Hope struggled to get her backpack set properly on her back, but she still made it up to Maleny.

Maleny took a deep breath and pulled her face from her hands, quickly wiping away some tears before Hope could really see her state. "Sweetheart, you're ready to go?" she looked over Hope to Hayley, both exchanging nods of agreement.

Hope deserved a normal life and if there was anything good that should happen today it was that Hope would finally get a chance to make friends at a boarding school just for supernaturals. Hope was still trying to understand what happened with her father, aunt and uncles and while she didn't understand the implications she knew that she couldn't see any of them…

Maleny looked so sad that Hope didn't want to make things worse by crying in front of her too. Her aunt Mal made the sacrifice in the first place so that the Hollow wouldn't touch neither her nor Nicolas. Hope thought she could make this small gesture in return. "Mom says there's a school where I can learn about magic."

Maleny gave a soft smile. "Yes, I heard. I hope you learn a lot from them and... don't get into trouble. I know mischief almost literally runs through your veins, but…"

Hope chuckled along with the others. Freya cleared her throat and came to bend down beside Hope. She held out a small bracelet for Hope. "Your Aunt Rebekah asked me to give you this. She loves you so much. Family heirlooms are very important. They remind us where we come from, and that no matter where we go, our family is with us."

Hope carefully took the bracelet into her hands then reached to touch the pendant of her own golden necklace, the one Maleny bought for her years ago with Hayley's name written on the back. "Thank you."

"I love you," Freya hugged Hope tightly.

"I love you, too, Aunt Freya," Hope said back, suddenly feeling the weight of the emptiness in the building. Maybe leaving it for school wouldn't be so bad.

"Hope," Maleny called to the girl. Hope returned to Maleny and allowed the blonde to hug her in a bone crushing hug. "I am so sorry for everything. I love you so much, okay? Never think for a minute that will change."

Hope felt Maleny tremble, probably from new tears. The girl pulled away and offered a smile to cheer Maleny up. "I think the wedding will happen one day."

Maleny froze, her eyes immediately landing on her engagement ring still on her finger. It just made her heart ache honestly.

"C'mon Hope," Hayley tugged Hope away from Maleny. "I'll be back tomorrow," she told the others before finally taking Hope away.

"Mother, we have to talk," Nicolas cleared his throat as soon as Hope was gone. "And it's about the Quarter."

Maleny shook her head. "What the hell else is there? Do they want me to publicly issue an apology or-"

"You can't stay," Nicolas decided to skip the build up and just came out with the point. Maleny stiffened then looked at Freya. Those two were always on the same page and it appeared now was no different. "The people here, the witches, they're weary of you because…"

"Because I'm a _freak_ ," Maleny bitterly laughed.

"You're not a freak-"

"I do not appreciate you lying to me Nicolas Mikaelson."

Nicolas blinked at her mother's tone. She was angry, but he understood she wasn't angry at _him_. She was angry at everything that happened, and with good reason. "You are a different person now, we...we need to tap into that magic and control it before…"

"Before I burn down a building!" Maleny exclaimed, not a moment later causing an eruption flamed at the dried out fountain. She slapped a hand at her forehead. "I should've just died-"

"Maleny-" Abigail reached for her daughter's arm but Maleny pushed herself away.

Maleny made a gesture for no one to touch her. "I can't take it!" she confessed in a raspy voice, one about to he engulfed in tears. "I destroyed the family when I should have just died!"

"Mum-"

"Your sister doesn't even want to look at me right now!" Maleny's tears streamed down her face all over again. Marlenie had locked herself away in her room and while she didn't say anything, they had heard her angry screams destroying things on the other side. "I should have just died! Me! And not for the others to separate for all eternity! I'm gonna have to carry that with me for the rest of my life!" as she continued to scream her desires, her magic caused several more things to burst into flames and things to explode.

Nicolas was fresh in tears as well. Without a word, he flicked his fingers to the side and snapped his mother's neck. Both Freya and Abigail gasped and looked to Nicolas with the same stunned faces. Nicolas took in a deep breath before uttering, "We're going to have to talk."

~0~

The last thing Marcel expected after everything was to receive a call from Elijah asking him to meet him in the woods. Another thing, he didn't expect for Vincent and Cami to be waiting either.

It was then that Elijah relayed to Marcel what he wanted to do. "How do you know that this will work?" asked Marcel.

"All of Vincent's power. He can open my mind, allow you to compel me. To release me from always and forever," Elijah said with Vincent nodding in agreement.

Despite his feelings towards the Mikaelsons, Vincent admitted Elijah's plan had a logical sense to it. It was the only reason he was there for help. He would make sure the Hollow never got the chance to reform. "The Hollow's too powerful. It's gonna tempt Elijah to try to get back with his siblings. If we don't do this, the Hollow's gonna come back."

"What if we're just creating a monster here?" Marcel still continued with hesitance.

"I am a monster," Elijah said so easily it made Cami flinch. "You, of all people, know that."

"I'll be there with him," Cami said as another means to ease Marcel's doubts. "He'll have no memory of his family...except for me." Elijah gave her a smile. It was his only consolation. She wouldn't leave him.

"Okay," Marcel sighed. He supposed this would have to be done for precautions. "How do I compel an Original?"

"Marcel, you haven't even begun to tap into all that magic that our ancestors put inside of you," Vincent said, kind of regretful now that he thought about it. Marcel was yet another aberration of nature, more so despite his vampire self. "Now, if we combine that with my spells, we can wipe out centuries of family drama."

"Are you sure you really want that?" Marcel directly asked Elijah.

Elijah nodded. Family had been his downfall for too long now. Everyone was free, and he should start to be too. "Yes."

With that, there was nothing left to say.

Vincent applied his best magic to ease and open Elijah's mind. Cami stepped to the side and watched with her heart in her throat as Marcel finally began the compulsion. She had no idea what kind of person Elijah would be after this - and neither did Elijah know - but she just hoped he would find some peace after all this. Everyone deserved it.

~ 0 ~

When Maleny woke up from her unexpected slumber, she found herself on the couch of the courtyard. As she rubbed the side of her neck, she began to remember just how she'd gotten there. _Nicolas is **so** grounded_.

The voices belonging to Freya, Abigail and Nicolas started carrying over from the living room. As Maleny got up from the couch, the words became more clear…

"I love my mother, but what Vincent said was true-" Nicolas was saying, "-she's never lived without my Dad or my aunt Rebekah or uncle Elijah, or uncle Kol. I just don't think we have many choices here!"

"What you are suggesting is completely deranged, Nicolas," Freya argued back. "We already lost most of the family-"

"-and if we don't do this we will lose my mother too," Nicolas cut her off. "Everything that Mum is feeling - all the guilt, the pain, the heartache - she cannot carry for the rest of her life. I mean, can either of you?"

"I would never wish any of these feelings on any of you," Maleny decided to make her presence known before she felt worse. All three froze at the sight of her. "I do not appreciate this conversation - that's completely about _me_ \- being done _without_ me…"

"Mother, I'm sorry," Nicolas hurried to meet the blonde woman who received him with open arms. "I panicked and I-"

Maleny soothed him with a hand on his back. "None of this is your fault. I'm the one that...is losing it." She pulled away and patted his cheek. "I'm the one who has to figure out how to live with this...this...pain. My heart hurts, but...I don't know what to do with it. And now you say I have to leave my home again and I...I don't know what to do honestly. It hurts. Everything hurts."

"Then turned it off," they heard someone say from behind Maleny.

Without looking back Maleny knew it was Marlenie who had finally come out of her bedroom. The raven-haired woman looked like she had cried a river with her red eyes and disheveled hair.

"Turn your emotions off, mother. Feel nothing. Only then can it get better."

"Marlenie…" Nicolas was about to scold when he saw his mother's face. She...she looked to be considering it.

"I never thought about it before," Maleny admitted.

"Maleny, if you turn those emotions off you won't know what type of person you would be after," Freya quickly stepped in.

"No emotions means no guilt," Maleny whispered, her hand slowly coming to her chest. "No heartache."

"But you wouldn't be you," Abigail sadly said.

"I'm not me anyways," Maleny sniffled the more she thought about the losses that would now follow her everywhere she went. "I lost Klaus. I-I will never be able to see him again and I...I don't think I can move on from that. I made him separate from his son, his daughter and his siblings. It's my fault, mother. And it's selfish to take this easy way out but right now I can't think of anything else."

"I can," Nicolas said, though whatever it was it didn't appear to have neither Abigail nor Freya on board too. "We erase the memories of Dad, the Hollow." To spare Maleny more trouble, he would leave the part of forgetting himself and Marlenie too.

"That's about the same thing as turning the emotions off," Marlenie opinionated, crossing her arms. "Emotions off would mean no guilt at all - even if she knew what the Hollow did. Erasing the memories doesn't guarantee she won't just learn about it again and go through the cycle of feelings."

"So you want me to turn my emotions off, then?" Maleny eyed her daughter with a degree of hurt.

When Marlenie saw this she sighed and came up to her. "Mother, despite what you may think, I do not blame you for anything. You know it has always been my dream to have my family together. I...I can't have that now, obviously, but I never once blamed you for it. The Hollow is the one who did everything. Not you. Turning your emotions off means you will never feel the pain again."

Maleny looked at everyone in the room with teary eyes. She didn't know what she would do, but it was clear that she would need to do _something_ because if left like this...she would not survive.

Despite being a vampire, a fighter, the Hollow had hit her directly where it hurt most. It took away the person she loved the most and hurt him too. She separated a family, the family she loved with all her heart and there was nothing she could do about it. All the time in the world would mean nothing if she couldn't spend it with Klaus and their family.

~ 0 ~

One Week Later

It had taken everything to leave New Orleans and not look back. To be quite honest, Klaus wasn't sure how long he would be able to keep up a quiet, solace charade. He wasn't used to being alone - he wasn't good at it. Disastrous consequences would follow, he was sure of that...he would just strive to make sure it didn't happen so soon.

Venice was lovely. As lovely as it could be when one was on their own. It was why he was overly surprised when he felt a familiar presence not too far from him.

The child he could ever see had found him.

Marlenie approached her father with a bittersweet smile and a necessity for a hug. Klaus held his daughter tightly in his arms and couldn't help to ask how Nicolas and Hope were. He had yet to be brave enough to call either of them.

"They're fine," Marlenie promised him. "Hope's at her boarding school and Nicolas...is in the Quarter. He wants to help aunt Freya figure out a way to put the Hollow away in another place."

"And...Maleny?"

Marlenie looked down at her long purse hanging to her side. She swallowed hard and offered another smile. "I want to stay with you, Dad." Klaus seemed surprised with her, figuring she would want nothing more than to stay with her mother. "Mum...has done something, and I...I know why she did it, but I can't be around her. It hurts me now."

"What did she do?" Klaus asked, unable to hide his concern.

"Can I please stay with you?" Marlenie first needed to make sure she wouldn't have to go back.

"Of course you can. You can be wherever you can but please...what did Maleny do? Is she okay? Is she-"

Marlenie took out a white envelope from her purse and held it to Klaus. "She wrote you a letter."

This wouldn't bode well. Klaus took the envelope and opened it up. He pulled out a folded letter and began to read it the moment he laid eyes on Maleny's handwriting.

 _Dear Klaus,_

 _First of all, I need to apologize. Despite it not being of any use, I need to do it because you deserve it. Your entire family deserves it. I'm sorry for what I did, for what I caused. I will always be the woman who separated the Mikaelson family. And I will never be able to fix it._

 _I am not the strongest woman despite what you used to say to me, what everyone used to tell me. I have the physical strength, but not the mentality. Like you, I cannot be alone. I realized, or rather I was made to realize, that I have never truly been away from you nor your family. One way or another, I always found you. Those days are over now. I only hope having our daughter Marlenie there with you will help you find some peace that you are not truly alone. Confide in her what you would confide in Elijah. She is your confidant now. Look after one another and, please, tell Marlenie that I love her so much. Remind her that every day for me._

 _And please, remember that I loved you too. When we were still humans in our village, I knew that you were the one I wanted to marry. I would have given everything to spend my days with you - and I did. I did everything I could to match my lifespan with yours. It's why we're here now, in a way, I guess. I love you, Klaus, I do but I cannot carry all this pain and heartache with me. You are strong, I am weak. I am selfish. I had to do something to free me from my pain and my guilt._

 _Like you set me free from the Hollow's claws, I will now do the same for you._

 _Don't torture yourself by thinking of our feelings. Think of me as gone. Don't_ _think about my feelings if you were to find someone new. Whether it is for a long term thing or a simple night of pleasure - I am gone._

 _I love you and I set you free._

 _Maleny._

Klaus didn't think it was possible to have his heart break all over again but ever since Maleny and his children arrived to his life, he found himself feelings new things. By the time he finished reading, his vision was slightly blurred from tears.

Marlenie now held out the engagement ring Klaus had given to Maleny.

All the time and world at their feet seemed like so little now.

He had lost everything.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

To Be Continued in... ** _As If It's Our Last_**. The story's already been published on my profile!

That concludes season 4! Sorry it took me so long but I wanted to write out the last story to the point where I had a couple chapters planned ahead. I have to admit, this is the first story (out of all my fandom stories) to end on a tragic note. I kind of like it xD

And before we really finish here, let me say thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed or favorited! I hope you're ready for the next, final story! Go check it out!


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